THE MUSHROOM CENTER
Fruiting Body vs Mycelium
Fruiting Body vs Mycelium
One part to rule them all
To get the best results from a mushroom supplement you need to use the right part of the mushroom.
PARTS OF THE MUSHROOM
There are multiple parts of a mushroom.
Spores
Mycelium and Hyphae
Fruiting body parts:
Gills
Ring
Stem
Volva
Cap
We want to focus on two main parts though.
The fruiting body (which composes) multiple parts) and the mycelium.
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MYCELIUM
Think of the mycelium as the "root" structure of the mushroom. It grows throughout the substrate, such as wood or caterpillars (for cordyceps), its the part you generally cannot see.
FRUITING BODY
The fruiting body is what most people think of when they picture a mushroom. It is the part that grows above ground and the parts we eat.
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BAG GROWN
Most mushrooms that go into making supplements are grown on bags of grain or sawdust like the picture above.
Inside of those bags the mycelium grows throughout the substrate partially digesting it for nutrition.
So what happens to those leftover bags of substrate?
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SUBSTRATE USES
Ideally this substrate would be used as compost and fertilizer after the mushrooms were harvested. It makes a great addition to your garden soil.
Unfortunately, this is not what happens in most commercial mushroom supplement growing operations.
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MYCELIUM SUPPLEMENTS
Believe it or not most mushroom supplements actually contain no mushroom fruiting bodies and are just this substrate ground up and put into a pill.
They may put pretty pictures of fruiting bodies on the label, but most mushroom supplements have no actual mushrooms in them.
These supplements are often more than 80% starch.
It is quite dishonest to pass these off as actual mushroom supplements.
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RIDICULOUS CLAIMS
Mycelium supplement companies like to make a lot of claims, from the nonsensical, to the outrageous.
POLYSACCHARIDE CONTENT
Polysaccharides are a type of carbohydrate that is found in a lot of different plants.
You will often see claims on mycelium supplements that tout the levels of these in product.
This is a meaningless claim that just looks good on a label.
Claiming a product is 50% or 70% polysaccharides is just a way of saying this product is composed of at least 70% carbohydrates.
Just because one beneficial compound might be a polysaccharide, does not mean all 70% is composed of beneficial compounds.
This is just another example of the supplement industry using peoples belief that more is better to their advantage.
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IS IT MUSHROOM OR GRAIN?
If you ever have a chance to taste a wild reishi mushroom supplement you will find it to be very bitter. This is from a class of important compounds called triterpenes.
These have a variety of benefits including joint, liver, digestive, and heart health.
If you were to open a reishi mycelium capsule you would find the taste to be a bit sweet because what you are tasting is that partially digested substrate, not the beneficial triterpenes, because there is almost of them in it.
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FRUITING BODIES
The fruiting body is where the nutritional and therapeutic value of a mushroom lies.
If see the word mycelium on the label of your mushroom supplement, just stay away because what you are really getting is that ground up substrate.
You are not getting the mushroom supplement you think you are.
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AN EXAMPLE
If you ever have a chance to taste a wild reishi mushroom supplement you will find it to be very bitter. This is from a class of important compounds called triterpenes.
These have a variety of benefits including joint, liver, digestive, and heart health.
If you were to open a reishi mycelium capsule you would find the taste to be a bit sweet because what you are tasting is that partially digested substrate, not the beneficial triterpenes, because there is almost of them in it.
RIDICULOUS CLAIMS
Mycelium supplement companies like to make a lot of claims, but ev
FRUITING BODIES
The fruiting body is where the nutritional and therapeutic value of a mushroom lies.
If see the word mycelium on the label of your mushroom supplement, just stay away because what you are really getting is that ground up substrate.
You are not getting the mushroom supplement you think you are.
AN EXAMPLE
If you ever have a chance to taste a wild reishi mushroom supplement you will find it to be very bitter. This is from a class of important compounds called triterpenes.
These have a variety of benefits including joint, liver, digestive, and heart health.
If you were to open a reishi mycelium capsule you would find the taste to be a bit sweet because what you are tasting is that partially digested substrate, not the beneficial triterpenes, because there is almost of them in it.
RIDICULOUS CLAIMS
Mycelium supplement companies like to make a lot of claims, but ev
FARM-TO-BOTTLE
We are very proud that we can trace all of our mushroom supplements back to their exact source and harvesters.
Knowing exactly where and how your mushrooms were harvested is an important part of our Farm-To-Bottle project.
The only way to know for sure that your mushroom supplements were produced ethically and responsibly is to have 100% traceability.
The fruiting body contains the highest levels of important beneficial compounds. If you want the best results from your mushroom supplement, the fruiting body is the only real choice.