I’ve written plenty about extracting the goodness out of Fungi by tincturing and decocting but by far the easiest way is to make concentrated mushroom powders and store them for later use. The mushroom powder can be added to boiling water or vice versa, allowed to steep for a while, then enjoyed as a healthy brew. For a good source of info on preparing and using mushrooms, check out Christopher Hobbs’s Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms… Christopher Hobbs. 2021.
The reason for such long cooking times is that all of the goodness is encased in the cell walls and inside the cells of the fungus. As these cell walls hold in a pressure that exceeds the tyre pressure of your bicycle or car, they have to be tough. A few minutes in hot water isn’t enough to break them unless you’ve already done a lot of prep by making concentrated mushroom powders. You may get a little mushroom taste and maybe a minor amount of soluble compounds from shorter extraction times but a lot will be remain locked in the mushroom.
Using concentrated powders
Different medicinal Fungi make different teas and require different amounts of powder to make though a good guide is –
2 grams to 2 cups of water (about 500 ml) boiled for around 10 minutes.
You can use less water or more mushroom if you like it stronger but 2 : 2 is a good place to start.
Using fresh mushrooms
Fresh mushrooms of the softer varieties (e.g. Agarics) can be boiled on HIGH for 20+ minutes then allowed to brew for an equal amount of time. Tougher fungi such as Reishi, Shiitake and Turkey Tail, even when fresh may need a quick blast in a pressure cooker for up to half an hour first before boiling in the pressure cooker water for another 20 – 30 minutes.
Using dried mushrooms
If you’ve already prepared concentrated mushroom powder, use the above ratio and time but if you’re using other dried mushrooms half an hour in a pressure cooker at least will be needed to crack the cell walls before an other, similar length of time to extract the goodness.
Amanita muscaria tea.
You may hear a lot about the benefits of Amanita tea and it lives up to its reputation.I’ve written a whole post about Amanita tea on this website, just click the link.
Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden
We cover a lot of ground on many herb related topics here on our website. There are whole pages devoted to different topics as well as frequent posts. Some of the links are –
