tropit

We all know about button mushrooms, portabellas and shitakis, but what about those mushrooms that supposedly have beneficial health effects? There's Reishi, Lion's Mane, Chaga and a few others that are not really for making lasagna, but are more highly regarded as having good medicinal benefits. How do you use them? How are they incorporated into recipes?

Out of pure curiosity, I bought some Lion's Mane mushroom powder a few months back and it has been sitting in my pantry ever since. I got it out this morning and started looking up uses for it as well as its benefits. The most common recipe was to just add about 1 gram to your tea or coffee in the morning. That sounded boring, so I tried adding it to a marinade and it tasted delicious.

Does anyone else use "functional mushrooms" in recipes? Got any tips?

sewingitalltogether

I would suggest that you read up on the side effects of each of the mushrooms. Surprising that some of them will increase the effects of CFS and any of the autoimmune diseases and high blood pressure. I’d love to add mushrooms to my regimen but can’t risk it.

Iceblossom

As with all supplements, read up on them. Some people are extra cautious with countries f origin (especially China) due to high metals contents.

Some mushrooms just don't taste all that good and are probably better as a dried supplement, but the Hubby loves Lion's Mane simply cooked and eaten. Lion's Mane has starters and we had a lady at the farmer's market who sold a variety of mushrooms. We may/probably set up a mushroom grow in our garage as well as trying some in the downed trees in the ravine out back. Not all logs work well, some trees have natural repellents and some species of mushrooms just work better with others. We've found this site to give a good breakdown:
https://www.fieldforest.net/category...hrooms-on-logs

The cookbook Wicked Healthy (which I gave away as part of my move) had at least one lion's mane recipe. Personally I love the corn dumpling and broth recipe... They have a website that has some Lion's Mane and other species.
https://wickedkitchen.com/vegan-recipes/

tropit

Thanks Iceblossom. I have lion's mane powder, which I've been using in sauces. It gives a mild, earthy flavor. I bought it at an organic, health conscious website, but that doesn't mean that it isn't high in metals. I love the Wicked Healthy cookbook.

We have grown shitakes many times and we started some new logs last winter. We probably won't see any mushrooms from them until at least next year. We love growing mushrooms and have also grown oyster mushrooms and porcinis in bags. We have Chantrelles growing wild on our property and go on mushroom hunts during the rainy months. Morels are my all time favorite mushroom and they are supposed to grow around here, but I've never found any.

As for medicinal mushrooms, I'm still hunting for more information.

b.zang

tropit - morels grow well in poplar/aspen forests. They also pop up like crazy in the spring following a forest fire. The area will be rich in morels for a few years following the fire.

I always feel blind when morel picking. I will be standing staring at the ground and someone will swoop in and pluck one from between my feet. Go early in the spring before there's too much greenery for the mushrooms to hide under.