Trompette

Other Names

Black trumpet, trumpette, trumpet of death (trompette de mort), black chanterelle

Latin Name

Craterellus cornucopioides

Usually Found In

UK, Europe, the USA, Canada

Season

August to April

Sprouting out of the forest floors from late summer, dark grey (jet-black when damp) trompettes appear in thin curling funnels in groups around tree bases, lurking in the shadows and waiting to be discovered. A distant cousin of the chanterelle, these are sometimes called the black chanterelle, but are quite different with large hollow, even stems. These mushrooms are hard to spot at first because their colour is very similar to the shade of the forest floor at that time of year, but as soon as a forager eyes them, they can suddenly see them everywhere. Some foragers say that hunting for trompettes is like looking for little black holes in the ground.