Pig's ear or Horn of plenty

Fruiting body funnel-shaped or spatula-like, 4-15 cm tall and wide, with an uneven wavy or deeply cleft edge. It often grows as a cluster of “ears” fused on a common base. Upper surface color: young ones are violet-lilac, turning purplish brown to brown with age; the center is darker, the edge paler. The surface is smooth, faintly shiny in wet weather and matte in dry.

Fruit body funnel-shaped or tubular, 3–10 cm tall and 2–6 cm across, with no clear boundary between cap and stem. The outer (upper) surface is dark gray or blackish brown, slightly scaly. Margin wavy or irregularly lobed.

The hymenophore is not gilled and not tubed — it consists of folds and wrinkles running down the “stem”, uneven, forked and blunt (like a chanterelle's but coarser). Color violet-lilac to purplish brown, paler than the top of the cap. Spore print yellowish ocher.

The hymenophore is on the outer surface of the fruit body — smooth or slightly wrinkled, with no true gills or false gills. Gray or bluish gray, with a powdery bloom of spores. This feature sets it apart from the hymenophore of true chanterelles.

There is no separate stem — the fruiting body is one piece, funnel-shaped. The lower part narrows into a sterile base 2-5 cm high, the color of the hymenophore or slightly paler.

There is no stem in the classic sense — the fruit body is one continuous cone-shaped tube. The lower part is narrowed, hollow inside, and the whole structure is open from top to bottom. Grayish or brownish black.

The flesh is whitish to yellowish, firm in young ones, fibrous in old ones. It doesn't change color when cut. It has a pleasant, mild taste.

Flesh very thin, brittle, gray or blackish. Taste delicate, pleasant, slightly nutty. When dried it concentrates, taking on a rich, intense, truffle-like flavor.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy smell, sometimes with a fruity note. The taste is mild, with nothing sharp.

Smell unobtrusive, pleasant, slightly floral and woodsy in fresh mushrooms. When dried, the aroma intensifies sharply and becomes deep, earthy and truffle-like. That's exactly what makes the dried horn of plenty such a valuable culinary ingredient.