Sutorius eximius is typically considered an edible mushroom, and listed as so in several North American field guides. Charles McIlvaine and Louis Krieger both wrote favorably of the bolete's esculent properties, but a series of poisonings reported from the New England region and eastern Canada have cast doubt on its edibility. According to Greg Marley, author Roger Phillips was the first to include a toxicity warning in his 1991 book Mushrooms of North America. Despite its revised status in North America, the lilac-brown bolete remains one of the most common fungi used as food by locals in the Hengduan Mountains region of southwestern China.