Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Scarlet Elfcup along with all the Scarlet Elfcup containing recipes presented on this site, with 1 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Scarlet Elfcup as a major wild food ingredient.

This species is found growing on fallen pieces of dead hardwood among mosses and leaf litter in damp habitats in winter and early spring. They are often found growing in clusters on dead wood particularly hazel and quite often hidden under leaf litter.. The fruiting body is cup-shaped with a scarlet smooth, shiny interior. The exterior is covered with a felted mass of short hairs in varying shades of white and pink and a stubby stem. The flesh is white and rubbery with a thin red layer lining the cup.

The cap/cup is vivid scarlet and cup shape. It is initially deeply cup shaped flattening to a shallower disk shape, sometimes with split edges upon ageing. The cap has microscopic tubes called asci that release the spores from the upper ‘cup’ of the mushroom. The pores are tiny and the spores are explosively ejected from the cap surface with a fair amount of force. The spores are ellipsoid to cylindrical with tiny oil droplets at either end.

The flesh is thin and fragile and it can sometimes be hard to clean. The stem is very short and thin, tapering toward the base and covered in tiny fine white hairs.

Not often foraged, this is a tasty mushroom, well worth the effort of cleaning. There is some controversy as to whether this mushroom can be eaten raw so play it safe and always cook them. As it also fruits through winter (Dec to April) it is worth looking out for.

I came across this for the first time this winter in a local mixed patch of woodland. One of a handful of mushrooms to be found at the coldest time of year this mushroom actually makes a ‘puffing’ sound when it explosively releases its spores.

Possible Confusion:

With its bright colour, shape and season it is very hard to confuse this mushroom with any other with the exception of the less common, almost identical and edible Ruby Elfcup (Sarcosypha coccinea), although several different sources confuse the two.

For other edible mushrooms, see the guide to edible mushrooms

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants