New to the world of medicinal mushrooms? Curious what mushroom extracts actually are and how they're made? We have your back! This is what happens behind the scenes before we get our superfood mushrooms:
Harvesting and Extraction
First, raw mushrooms are harvested, dried, and ground into a fine powder. Then they're cooked in water (release water-soluble compounds) or alcohol (alcohol to release non-water soluble compounds depending on the mushroom) multiple times.
This cooking breaks down the cell walls of the mushroom allowing for the extraction of the beneficial compounds (beta-glucans, triterpenes, etc.)
The resulting liquid from cooking the mushrooms is drained and any alcohol used in the extraction is removed. The liquid mushroom mixture is then sent to a spray dryer, which removes all the water, leaving you with the final powder without any of the water and/or alcohol.
Why not just eat the mushrooms?
The cell walls of the mushrooms are made up of a compound called chitin, which our bodies do not have the enzymes to break down properly. Just eating fresh mushrooms is great, but the beneficial compounds are less bioactive due to the chitin. This is why medicinal mushrooms are typically consumed in extract form.
Testing
First, the mushrooms undergo complete microbial testing for bacteria, yeast and mold, e. coli, and coliforms. Then, they're tested for:
- Heavy metals analysis.
- Pesticide testing that exceeds USP standards.
All of our product specifications follow the following industry established limits:
- Lead: <2ppm*
- Arsenic: <2ppm*
- Cadmium: <2ppm*
- Mercury: <0.1ppm*
Based on our recommended dosage (1g), our suppliers' heavy metal limits are even stricter than the limits set by AHPA.
*ppm = parts per million
The extracts are then either packaged individually and available to order as pure mushroom extracts, or blended with our fresh, artisan roasted coffee.