Black Trompette / Summer / Autumn / Edible
Scientific name
Craterellus Cornucopioides
Family
Cantharellaceae
Habitat
Grows mainly with Beech and oak trees, on calcareous soils, preferring mossy patches. It occurs from August to November, more often favouring the cooler late autumn months.
Description
These mushrooms are incredibly hard to spot amongst the leaf litter, the colour can be quite variable between black and greyish.

Identifying features for the Black Trompette:

Cap:
Greyish black funnel shaped mushroom , the cap is usually enrolled at the edge and the centre is a deep funnel going the whole way down the stem. The cao surface is slightly felty

Stem:
The stem is thin fleshed and hollow, it’s hard to say where the cap ends and the stem begins.

Gills:
There are no obvious gills but it can have small ridges running up the stem to the cap.
Smell:
Lovely and mushroomy
Spores:
Cream to Yellow
Uses
One of the best tasting mushrooms there is.

In Food
This mushroom is excellent fried, dried and added to soups and stews but my favourite is stuffed with sticky flavoured rice and gently fried.
Known Hazards
None
Potential lookalikes
There’s nothing else out there that looks like this mushroom, but I have been disappointed when spotting a black Elfin Saddle from afar and hoped it was a black trompette.
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