faq
General
What are medicinal mushrooms?
Medicinal mushrooms are the extracts from specific varieties of mushrooms that have incredible health benefits - physically, mentally and emotionally.
These extracts are powerful biologically active compounds which act as adaptogens in our body, providing different health-promoting and/or therapeutic properties.
What are adaptogens?
Adaptogens are non-toxic compounds within plants which can help our bodies deal with daily stressors. These can be from physical stressors like injury or inflammation, to chemical stressors like pollution or biological stressors such as pathogens or disease. They can also have a profound effect on our overall health, such as our immunity, energy levels, physical performance, and cognitive function.
Each variety of our mushrooms contain a unique range of other powerful biologically active compounds, or adaptogens, which provide different health-promoting and/or therapeutic properties.
Magic mushrooms?
Unfortunately you’ve come to the wrong place if you’re looking for a psychedelic experience! Our mushrooms do not elicit any ‘trips’ or psychedelic episodes as ‘magic mushrooms’ do.
Can you take while pregnant/breastfeeding?
We recommend speaking with your midwife, GP or health professional before taking any supplementation during your pregnancy or when breastfeeding, even 100% natural & organic supplements like our mushrooms.
How do you take them?
Our AM & PM blends come in a powder form.
AM: Stir this powder into your morning coffee, you won’t even taste it!
Not a coffee person? Use the powder as a coffee substitute, or add to your smoothie or breakfast.
PM: Perfect for adding to your cooking, like soups or saucy dishes, or enjoy as a broth or hot/cold drink. Try our pal @hercules mushroom hot chocolate recipe.
Brain, Energy & Relax come as capsules (100% plant-based capsules). Simply take 1-2 capsules per day with water.
What does it taste like?
The mushrooms have an earthy, slightly nutty flavour, that’s pretty mild. You might notice the mushroom’s natural flavour if you make a simple broth with hot water, or we love pairing with Otis oat milk, a dash of maple syrup and cinnamon for a delish spiced chai.
If you’re adding your ‘shrooms to cooking or hot drinks that already have plenty of flavour you won’t taste the mushrooms. Spag Bol (or anything with mince), creamy mushrooms or Asian sauces are some great dishes to whack some mushroom blends into. And your coffee, hot choc or smoothies are the perfect drinks to stir them through.
We reckon it adapts to whatever flavour you pair it with, sweet or savoury!
When can I expect to see results?
This can vary between individuals, as no two people have the same bodies, or are experiencing the same lifestyle. Depending on your awareness of your body, your current health status or your level of stress you will begin to experience the results at different times, or to different extents.
As with any supplement, or change to our diet, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to see and feel results. We recommend giving the mushrooms at least 2 weeks of consistent usage to get the best results.
Are they heat sensitive?
As our mushroom powders are dual extracted, this means they’ve already been processed using both heat (in the form of hot water) and alcohol to extract all the good stuff ( the adaptogenic β-glucans and terpenes).
This means they’re completely stable when added to hot drinks or when used in cooking.
Do you ship overseas?
We’re currently only shipping to NZ and Australia. We will let you know once we expand our shipping capabilities.
Using our products
Can I mix my mushrooms together?
Yes!
Seeing as each variety of mushroom offers a different range of adaptogenic compounds with differing effects, you may want to take more than just one mushroom. The mushrooms don’t react with one another, instead work in synergy to deliver health benefits.
It’s always important to be mindful of your overall dosage of these natural herbs however, and be sure to build up your dosage slowly.
How often can I use these products and in what dose?
We suggest, as when taking any new supplement, to start out small and build your way up when it comes to dosage. This might mean only using ½ teaspoon of our powder blends, or 1 capsule per day to start with.
1-2 heaped teaspoons of powder blends, or 1-2 capsules of each type of mushroom tends to be the sweet spot, or common dosage for individuals to experience the benefits of mushrooms.
This might vary depending on factors such as your body size, level of health or sensitivity to the mushrooms. Make sure to be intuitive and listen to your body when experimenting with what dose works best for you.
We (mushroom enthusiasts!) tend to use 2 teaspoons of AM blend in our morning coffee cup, and up to 4 teaspoons in our cooking when we’re making dinner for two.
How long will my blend last?
Once using regularly;
Powders: we suggest using about 1 tsp per serve, daily.
This’ll get you about 60 serves per tub (250g).
Capsules: we suggest taking 1-2 capsules daily.
Each tub contains 60 capsules, so 30-60 days.
How many grams of mushrooms per capsule?
450mg
Can I take the PM powder in the morning?
Yes! Although we call this our PM blend, there’s absolutely no reason you can’t take the mushrooms that are in our PM blend at any other time of the day.
Reishi can have an incredible calming effect, whilst shiitake and turkey’s tail support our body systems such as digestive, skin, immune and cardiovascular systems to name a few.
We’ll take that kind of support at any time of the day!
Will the ‘relax’ capsules make me sleepy?
The mushroom extracts (namely reishi) in our Relax capsule work to help alleviate stress and promote calmness and relaxation. Whilst they don’t make you drowsy, they can have a profound effect on your quality of sleep.
Can I use the AM as a coffee substitute?
The AM blend is a great coffee substitute, which can provide a gentle energising effect and supports brain function. Simply stir through warm water or your favourite milk.
Quality and sourcing
Are the capsules vegan?
Yes, our capsules are 100% vegan and made from natural plant fibres.
Where do you source your mushrooms?
Our mushrooms are imported from China. This was a conscious decision as medicinal mushrooms are an ancient Eastern medicine, so it was important to us to source from the origin.
Over the centuries, Chinese medicine has developed standards that guide the cultivation of the world’s best quality medicinal mushrooms.
All of our mushrooms are grown organically on natural substrates, not in laboratories.
What is a dual extract?
Our mushroom powders have been dual extracted.
This means we’ve used an extraction method using both heat in the form of hot water (to extract the water-soluble adaptogenic β-glucan polysaccharides) and alcohol (to extract the oil-soluble adaptogens such as terpenes) to obtain all the biologically active compounds the mushrooms have to offer. To use only one extraction process would mean we’d only be extracting half of the goodness.
Both heat and alcohol are used regularly to process or extract natural medicines, and are both completely safe extraction methods.
Why do you need to extract mushrooms?
We extract biological compounds (the goodness) from the fruiting bodies of the mushrooms so that they’re bioavailable (meaning they’re readily available for our bodies to absorb and utilise).
Just like plants, mushrooms are made up of thousands of cells. The cell walls of fungi are made up of a substance called chitin which is super tough (for reference, crab shells are made from chitin). Humans don’t tend to have the enzyme needed to break down chitin so essentially the goodness within the mushroom cells remain locked inside the cell, and passes through our digestive system and out again, much like dietary fibre does.
For this reason, we extract the goodness from the mushroom cells and dry it into a powder. Solvents such as heat and alcohol work to break down the chitin and extract the biological compounds.
How potent are your mushrooms?
Our powders are 100% pure mushroom extracts, with a 20% polysaccharide content, and no fillers, additives or flavours, making them more effective. A little goes a long way.
Are they from the fruiting body?
All our mushroom extracts are from the fruiting body (the reproductive system of the mushroom), not mycelium grain (essentially the mushrooms’ root system).
The fruiting body is where the high concentration of effective and biologically active adaptogenic compounds remain, so that’s where we extract our powders from.
Are your mushrooms certified organic?
Our mushrooms are USDA certified, 100% organic, and with mush love <3.