Settling the Dryad's Saddle question.

[RaffD]

Hello everyone. I have been picking fiddle heads and, hopelessly, looking for mushrooms. The heat has finally hit southern Ontario and I'm hoping my luck will spike based on that. I have had a question on my mind lately. By far the most prolific spring mushroom in my area is Dryad's Saddle. I have heard young specimens are edible and even large ones can be boiled to oblivion to create a broth. What is the word on this mushroom? Does anyone eat it and how should I go about doing so? Thanks in advance. Raff.

[Dave W]

I have eaten young Polyporus squamosus, thinly sliced and sauteed. It's okay, with a mild taste reminiscent watermelon rind. Sometimes I wonder about the possibility it may be good cooked and then cold-pickled in spiced vinegar. I've not ever tried this. I know someone who slices raw pieces very thinly and eats it like this. I tried a little piece like this once, and found it to be good.

[rob]

Young ones are okay. I normaly use them in a stir fry or soup as they hold up well.

As Dave says the "watermelon rind" odour/flavour is quite prevelant but disipates with cooking. One down side is the ocassional bitter piece, however overall, for a first edible off the year they're worth sampling. Years back I had a Bulgarian landlady who would accept as many as I could pick.

Always thought they'd be nice pickled....maybe this year.

Should have been out today (Acton On.) but the Labrador is under the weather, so vet trip and homecare has kept me in.

[DufferinShroomer]

Dryad saddle can be ok. I dont think it can be OMG thats good but it can be ok. The first issue is tenderness. It is a polypore and a mature specimen can easily be used to dig your way out of prison, they are that tough. The young ones are much more tender. The test I use is to try to use my thumb nail to puncture its skin. If my thumbnail will puncture it fairly easily I consider it ok to eat. If my thumbnail wont easily penetrate the mushroom it will be pretty tough - think shoe leather. I dont do the slice a bit from the outside of a mature specimen and hope that is tender thing. Life is too short for that. I will however pick really young specimens if I find them and if they pass the thumbnail test. The thing is that they dont taste like your typical grocery store mushroom. They taste like watermelon rind or cucumber or something along those lines. You wont be making dryad saddle soup or frying up a mess of them on their own unless you happen to like watermelon rind. Or unless you have a specific recipe that uses them like Rob's landlady. They do have a couple of handy uses though. First off, they hold their texture quite well when cooked. And second they will absorb the flavor of things cooked along with them. So you can use them in stews and soups and stir fry to add texture but you wont really be adding mushroom flavor. You can also fry a bit along with a few morels to rescue a day when you find only a handful of morels but dont overdo it. They can sort of rescue an otherwise crappy outing but you wont be going out specifically looking for them. Just keep in mind that edible doesnt mean the same as tasty.

RaffD, there should be morels fruiting in Vaughn right now. If you arent finding them then look harder

[RaffD]

Thanks everyone. I haven't found ANY morels but I will keep looking.

[rob]

There was a post, sometime back, by someone who deepfries dryad slices. Said they were like chicken fingers. Worth a try. Did find a few lbs. of yellows yesterday, so I didn't grab any dryads saddle. Maybe tomorrow though.