Birch Polypore / Razor Strop Fungus

[sandbender]

Has anyone ever eaten it? I found a haven for them today and I read in a book on medicinal mushrooms that theyre quite tasty at a young age, if a little bitter.
Anyone?

I have eaten birch polypore and have never found it to be particularly tasty, they also tend to be unpleasantly chewy, however if you brew them up and discard the flesh the resulting brew, although not delicious is quite pleasant. I have also been told that this 'brew' is actually very nutritious.

 

[mariobab]

I don`t use it for tinder,because it groves on much bigger tinder source-dead birch.But of course I tried how it works.In thin strips it just burn in flame unlike horse hoof that glows infinity.When I blow out the flame it glowed for short time.as I remember,and died.As for eating,they are ok,but when young,i.e.,when hymenium is not developed.Older they are bitter and some woody taste,and hard to chew.Now I like to use them for stropping.

 

[rrch88]

Great thanks!

 

[Burning_Man]

I have tried using it as a tinder. Found that it does smolder very well which seems like a great middle stage between spark and tinder. Couldn't manage to blow it to flame though. If you scrape it with a knife it fluffs up really well but does tend to blow away. Have also experimented with pounding a stip of it. This seems to create a more air spaces but keeps it contained.