This inedible mushroom is common in broadleaved woodland. The fruiting bodies (the mushrooms) are small, hard, rounded balls which grow on dead trees, including ash and beech.

Daldinia Concentrica is known by several common names, including King Alfred's cake, cramp balls, and coal fungus. The dull black exterior hides a useful secret.

This mushroom, which has distinctive concentric rings inside, can be used as tinder for fire-lighting. If dry it will take a spark from a match or a traditional flint and steel. It burns slowly, much like a charcoal briquette and gives off a pungent smoke. Once lit it usually needs a regular oxygen flow to keep burning, for example, blowing on it. Fragments can be broken off to expose more embers and transferred to a tinder bundle to create an open flame.

You will receive either one large, or two small King Alfred’s Cakes.

We only harvest a very small number of these mushrooms to avoid depleting Dormouse Wood. In the main we simply forage those found loose on the ground rather than picking them.

IMPORTANT: these mushrooms are INEDIBLE. Also, due to their ability to create a spark and potentially fire, they should be kept them away from children, except if under appropriate supervision.

The photographs show examples. The actual item(s) you will receive will vary, as every piece is unique.