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RE: Wild Edibles: Black Staining Polypore and Mushrooms as a Survival Food
I've known a few folks that have eaten these mushrooms. I think like many polypores, the secret to something chewable is harvesting the tender, young, growing edges - and not the whole mushroom.
I also heard tell of someone grinding Black Staining Polypore up and using it in baking? I dunno. They do have tender outer edges, but compared to something like a chicken, there is much less of that thin outer edge. A good healthy chicken will give you a lot of, let's say, flesh per petal.
A Chicken of the Woods can provide a lot for eating, in the right condition, that's for sure. I expect it's the same with this, although each part is thinner. That's an interesting idea for some of these stout mushrooms -- to grind them up like burger! That would be interesting to try out!
I second what @haphazard-hstead wrote! We found a bunch of these last year in Central Park, I tried eating one of them. Gary Lincoff warned us, however, that unless they are very young and tender, they'll be extremely chewy. Fried up with a bit of butter, salt, and herbs, it was actually delicious! Problem was, I kept chewing, and chewing, and chewing some more! I think it would have been easier to chew and swallow bubblegum! lol So if you do decide to give it a go, just make sure they're young, small, and very soft and tender! My recent post has a picture of one that we had found here: Central Park MUSHROOM HUNT with Gary Lincoff - YES, you can EAT 'em too, if you DARE...!