Found at Sand Ridge State Forest, IL, mid-August. We found these S. floccopus growing in great abundance, although we seem to have missed the main bloom of this species, as most of the specimens we found were rotting spectacularly. We did find several younger specimens, and collected them as they were edible, according to our book, and because we're iffy mycologists (but getting better) but were at least certain in our identification of this weird looking bolete.
The site abounds with a great variety of mushrooms, including lots of small puffballs, of which a few are hopefully the beginnings of larger ones to be gathered at a later date. Other neat-o fungal highlights included a striking Lactarius indigo and a beautiful Amanita with veil scales on the cap reminiscent of A. muscaria or A. pantherina, but pure white.
Some internet research failed to turn up definitive information on the palatablity of S. floccopus. Most people agreed that it was edible. A report at mushroomexpert.com suggested potential, another report described it as "insipid," and another described it as actively bad.
So it went like this:
This is what the 'shrooms look like:
We sliced up one cap, after washing the sand off. The flesh began to stain a lurid pink, turning to blackish. We then proceeded to sautee the slices in butter with no seasoning, so that we could test the flavor of the mushroom with as little interference as possible. Also, we reasoned, if sauteeing it in butter couldn't make it good, we probably shouldn't be eating it. We cooked it pretty thoroughly.
Then we ate it:
Verdict: Meh.
Just meh. We agree with the source that called it "insipid." It has very little flavor. Significantly less than the average store-bought Agaricus bisporus. There was not enough flavor to be good or bad, but it would probably be OK if it were stronger. And the texture has little to reccommend it. It was kind of squishy and slimy. It could be good as filler in another dish along with other flavors and textures, but it's not worth eating by itself.
We had several more, so the stems went into the stock pot, and we attempted drying the remaining caps using the janky method described in How not to dry morels, figuring that we have nothing to lose and that this may concentrate what little flavor there is. Also, I'm in a new apartment with an oven that can maintain a lower temperature, and I figured that this may make a difference. Here's how that went.
These are sliced mushrooms on a pan:
And this is what they look like after 8 hours in an oven at 130 degrees or so Farenheit:
They dried out pretty well, better than the morels, thanks to the different oven, but ended up with a peculiar odor that had a distinct component of Wet Dog.
They are destined for a ziplock bag in the back of the refrigerator until we get brave enough to do something with them.