I went to look for Artist’s Conk, also called Ganoderma Applanatum, as you can make Amadou from it. It usually grows on dead beech trees although it can be present on live ones, and in any season. After a while wandering amongst the trees searching, I spied one on this fallen tree.
It was just about made visible by the white edge, as it was wedged in under the overhanging bulk of the log.
It was firmly attached and didn’t come away easily, I couldn’t pull it off by hand so I used a knife to cut through the top layer, and the first half came off.
Here you can see the different layers; the pores make up most of it, then the chocolate-colour trama, then the crusty top layer. The trama is what you use to make amadou.
Then I tried to remove the second larger part, which was more difficult…
By the end I have got both halves of this huge mushroom to use for making amadou.