TINDER BRACKET OR TOUCH-WOOD

What exactly was being eaten by the Amerindians and their captives? Touch-wood is punk or wood so decayed as to be dry, crumbly, and useful for tinder to start a fire. A dry spongy substance prepared from fungi - genus Fomes -

and used to ignite fuses, especially of fireworks.

(Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1988, Merriam-Webster Inc., Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts)

References:

Bigelow, H. E. 1974. Mushroom Pocket Field Guide. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York.

Atlas Botanique. 1981. Priroda, Bratislava.