Photo: J Milburn, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

King Alfred's Cakes

Daldinia concentrica

Also known as Cramp Balls, Coal Fungus, Carbon Balls, Tinder Fungus

At a glance

Family

Xylariaceae

Type

Fungus (Ascomycete, wood-decay)

Parts used

None eaten or extracted; the whole dried fruiting body is the traditionally useful part, prized for fire-craft rather than food or medicine

Size

Rounded to hemispherical fruiting bodies, roughly 2 to 10 cm across, clustered in small groups

Bloom

No bloom; fruiting bodies persist year-round on the wood and release spores mainly in spring and summer after rain

Habitat

Dead and dying branches and trunks of broadleaf trees, especially ash and beech, in woodlands, hedgerows, and parkland across Europe, North America, and beyond

Acquisition

Forage

This plant in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Reliable natural tinder

Long, slow smoldering ember

Easy to spot on deadwood

Old folk charm for cramp

Traditional uses

✦

Long before matches, woodland travelers and fire-keepers sought out these hard, charcoal-like lumps clinging to fallen ash branches. Once dried and struck with a spark, the fungus's fibrous inner flesh catches easily and holds a slow, glowing ember, which made it one of the most trusted tinders in the hedgerows of Britain and Europe. In some rural traditions, people also carried a piece of the dried fungus in a pocket as a folk charm believed to ward off muscle cramps, which is how it earned the homely name Cramp Balls. It has never held a real place in the kitchen or the herbal dispensary, but as a piece of practical woodcraft, its reputation is old and well earned.

How to grow & use it

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Pairs well with

✦Flint and steel
✦Dry birch bark
✦Char cloth

Substitutes

✦True Tinder Fungus (Fomes fomentarius)
✦Birch Polypore (Fomitopsis betulina)

Choose it when

“For the moment you spot blackened, cracked lumps clinging to a fallen ash branch, and the woods quietly offer you a way to carry fire home.”

Did you know?

The name King Alfred's Cakes comes from the old legend of King Alfred the Great, who, hiding from Danish invaders in a peasant's cottage, was asked to watch some cakes baking by the fire and let them burn. This blackened, lumpy fungus was thought to resemble those scorched cakes, and the name stuck.

Safety

This tough, woody fungus has no history of safe food or medicinal use and should not be eaten or brewed. It is not known to be seriously toxic, but that does not make it safe to ingest, and correct identification matters since similar-looking deadwood fungi can be confused by an untrained eye.