Polyporus squamosus

When spring comes around people start looking for Morels. Apparently, they're quite tasty, I've never actually eaten one, so I don't know. It's said among mushrooming circles that aside from the morel, there isn't much in the way of edible spring mushrooms. How disappointing. There are other spring mushrooms, and they are edible, but in no way are they enjoyable, almost not worth picking - or so it is said. Polyporus squamosus is one of those "edible, but not" spring mushrooms.

Walking along the edge of a field, looking for some morels - in the wrong place - I saw a long dead Elm log sprouting a good handful of these Dryad's Saddles and I figured I'd give it a go. Some of the bigger ones were already too tough to cut, and those I left to continue on with their mushroomy lives. The others, I nipped and stuffed in my bag to take home and try.

Once home, I took them out and cleaned them off. Ran them by my AG one more time just to make sure they were in fact P. squamosus, they were, and so I stuck them in an old strawberry container and put them in the fridge to figure out what to make with them.
Before trying to figure out what to do, I took out an older tougher mushroom and decided to give it a try. Going by what everyone else says I trimmed the soft outer edges and tossed it in the frying pan with some butter and salt. And, just because, I put in a thicker piece to see how tough it really would be...

Sure enough the outsides were edible, and whoever started spreading the rumor about P. squamosus being inedible ought to be hung by their toe nails. Perhaps these aren't comparable to morels, but with just butter and salt, they were pretty good. Definitely a mushroom I'll go looking for again, and considering how easy it is to identify, it should be one every beginning mushroomer gives a shot.