Welcome to the Wild Foods Guide Page for: Horn of Plenty (Craterellus cornucopioides)

Wild Food Guide For: Horn of Plenty



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Mushrooms and Fungi

Horn of Plenty


This is the description page for Horn of Plenty (Craterellus cornucopioides) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the wild foodstuff: Horn of Plenty.

Horn of Plenty mushroom (Craterellus cornucopioides)

Horn of Plenty, Craterellus cornucopioides (also known as Black Chanterelle, Black Trumpet and Trumpet of Death) is a very distinctive species of basidomycete fungus (filamentous fungi composed of hyphae that reproduce sexually) and is a member of the Cantharellaceae (chanterelle) family of the Cantharellales order that have white spore prints. It is a fairly common species that is typically thrives oak and most especially beec woodlands. However, the fungus' dark colour and its typical habit of growing in deep leaf litter can make it difficult to find. Typically it friuts during September and October. The fungus typically grows gregariously in clumps that are unevenly distributed throughout woodland. The fungus is braodly trumpet or funnel shaped and hollow to the base with a top that's outrolled and wavy and which often splits as the mushroom matures. The outer surface of the trumpet starts of as dark grey or black and the inner surface is a dingy brown. The outer surface of the cap is spore-bearing and slightly ridged and begins a glossy black, but the white spores, when they mature, give it a grey-white bloom. Even young mushrooms are trumpet shaped and the flesh is thin, grey and leathery. This and the mushroom's appearance puts many peopl off collecting the fungus, but it is an excellent eating mushroom. Like the related chanterelle, it can be eaten raw but has an earthy taste that may do not find pleasant, but this disappears on cooking.

The horn of plenty is considered amongst the great ourmet mushrooms and you will pay a premium in any restaurants serving it, indeed, it is collected commercially in Continental Europe. Typically it is lightly fried in butter and the horn is stuffed before serving. It also makes a very flavoursome addition to soups and sauces. The horn of pleanty can also be preserved by pickling and, unlike the related chanterelle it also dries well. It is especially good if dried, ground and used as a contdiment.

The colour, shape, and habitat of this mushroom means that it's very difficult to confuse with any other fungus. Indeed, there are only two species it can be confused with and both are edible. The first of these is the Ashen Chanterelle (cantharellus cinereus) which is very similar in shape and colour but has spores bourn on wrinkles on the mushroom's surface. It is, however, uncomon in deciduous woodland, where the horn of plent is found. The only other mushroom that might cause confusion is the young and immature form of the Blackening Russula (Russula nigricans) which can look trumpet shaped (but mature specimens have a different shape). However, young Blackening Russula is entirely edible.


Recipes Utilizing Horn of Plenty

Salmon with Horn of Plenty and Horseradish Sauce
Pan-fried Pike with Fried Horn of Plenty Mushrooms
Prawns with Horn of Plenty Mushrooms and Saffron Rice
Horn of Plenty Stir Fry
Venison Chops with a Sloe Gin and Horn of Plenty Mushroom Sauce
Horn of Plenty Mushrooms Stuffed with Saffron Bulghur Wheat
Baked Cod with Horn of Plenty Mushrooms and Wild Garlic Leaves
Horn of Plenty Mushrooms and Red Bell Pepper Sautée
Horn of Plenty Mushroom Pizza
Cream of Horn of Plenty and Girolle Soup
Horn of Plenty Soup
Horn of Plenty Soufflé
Mushroom Pickle




Welcome to the Celtnet guide to wild foods. As this recipe site has grown it has become obvious that to allow people to replicate some of the more ancient recipes on this site (especially from the Ancient, Roman and Medieval periods) it is necessary to list modern alternatives but also to produce a guide so that the curious can find the original (often wild) ingredients for themselves. These pages are an attempt at bringing all these potentially useful and often forgotten wild foods together into one place.

It is a sad fact that we have lost much of the knowledge we once had of the seasonal wild foods that we have on our own doorstep and which are not only safe to eat but which are also very tasty and fresh. This section of the site grew from the work I've done on the ancient recipes section of this site. After all, for our ancestors before farming wild foods were the only foods available. This guide therefor represents images lists and recipes for various wild foods you can gather and what you can do with them. For the most part the list contains edible plants. But I am beginning to add a new section on edible wild mushrooms and this part of the site will be expanding to include many other plants and species very soon. If you would like to know how to cook with these wild foods, then as well as having links to individual recipes on these pages you can also visit my Wild Food Recipes pages for many more (over 1000 and growing) recipe ideas.



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