Get to Know Your Mushrooms
Six functional mushrooms, each with a different history, a different look, and a different makeup. This is the long version — where they come from, what they are, and what's in them. If you'd rather just work out which one to buy, Find Your Mushroom is the short version.
A note before we start: we've written this to tell you what these mushrooms are, not what they'll do for you. Traditional use is history, not evidence, and we'd rather be straight with you about the difference.
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)
Origins
Chaga grows on birch trees in cold climates — Siberia, Russia, northern and eastern Europe, parts of Canada. It has been brewed as a tea in those regions for centuries, long enough to have picked up the nickname the king of mushrooms. It was a household drink in rural Siberia well before anyone was selling it in bottles.
What it looks like
Almost nothing like a mushroom. Chaga forms a hard, black, cracked mass on the side of a birch trunk, closer in appearance to burnt charcoal than to anything you'd find in a supermarket. Break it open and the inside is a warm golden-brown.
What's in it
Chaga contains beta-glucans and other polysaccharides, polyphenols, and melanin — the same pigment that gives it its dark exterior. It also carries trace minerals absorbed from the birch it grows on, including potassium.
Cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis)
Origins
Cordyceps comes from the high altitudes of Tibet, Nepal and China, where it has a long history in Tibetan and Chinese herbal tradition. Historically it was rare and expensive enough that its use was largely confined to those who could afford it.
What it looks like
Slender, golden-orange and stalk-like, with no cap at all. In the wild it grows on insect larvae, which is where the old name caterpillar fungus comes from. Ours is cultivated rather than wild-harvested — both for consistency and because wild collection has put real pressure on Himalayan populations.
What's in it
Cordyceps contains cordycepin and a range of polysaccharides, along with trace minerals including iron, zinc and magnesium.
Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus)
Origins
Known in Japan as yamabushitake — the mountain priest mushroom, named after the yamabushi ascetics who lived in the mountains where it grows. It appears in Chinese and Japanese herbal tradition going back centuries, and was reportedly used by Buddhist monks.
What it looks like
The most distinctive of the six by some distance. Rather than a cap and stem, Lion's Mane grows as a soft white cascade of long spines, more coral than mushroom — which is exactly where the name comes from.
What's in it
Lion's Mane contains two groups of compounds not found together elsewhere: hericenones, concentrated in the fruiting body, and erinacines, found in the mycelium. Since we use 100% fruiting bodies, ours is a hericenone-bearing extract. It also contains beta-glucans and polysaccharides, plus potassium and zinc.
Lion's Mane Mushroom Extract →
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
Origins
Reishi has one of the longest documented histories of any mushroom — it appears in Chinese herbal texts going back more than two thousand years, and shows up repeatedly in Chinese painting, carving and literature as a symbol of longevity and status. For much of that history it was reserved for the imperial court, which is where the old name mushroom of immortality originates.
What it looks like
A fan-shaped cap with a glossy, almost varnished surface in reds, oranges and browns. It is woody and tough rather than fleshy — you can't cook with it, which is why it has always been prepared as a tea or an extract.
What's in it
Reishi is chemically complex, with several hundred identified compounds. The two groups most often discussed are triterpenes — which give it its notably bitter taste — and beta-glucans. It also contains peptidoglycans and the trace element germanium.
Shiitake (Lentinula edodes)
Origins
Cultivated in China, Japan and Korea for over a thousand years, Shiitake began as a delicacy for the nobility and is now one of the most widely eaten mushrooms in the world. Unlike the others here, most people have already eaten it — it's a kitchen staple as much as a supplement ingredient.
What it looks like
A conventional mushroom shape: a brown umbrella cap with slightly curled edges, and a firm, meaty texture with a deep savoury flavour.
What's in it
Shiitake contains lentinan, a specific beta-glucan named after the species, along with ergothioneine, copper, selenium and B vitamins. Sun-dried Shiitake also develops vitamin D — one of very few plant-based sources of it.
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
Origins
Turkey Tail grows on fallen logs and stumps in forests worldwide, and features in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Japanese Kampo. It is also among the most heavily studied mushrooms in the scientific literature — though study volume and proven effect are different things, and we'll leave the interpreting to the researchers.
What it looks like
Concentric, wavy bands in browns, tans, blues and oranges, fanned out in overlapping layers — which really does look like the tail of a wild turkey, hence the name.
What's in it
Turkey Tail contains two well-characterised polysaccharide compounds, PSK and PSP, along with flavonoids, phenols and trace minerals including potassium, phosphorus and selenium.
Turkey Tail is not currently in stock. It's on this page because it's part of the story — we'll say so here when it returns.
How we make the extracts
100% fruiting bodies. We use the mushroom itself, not mycelium grown on a grain substrate. A lot of cheaper supplements use the latter, which means a meaningful share of what you're paying for is the grain.
Dual extraction. Different compounds dissolve in different things. Water pulls out the polysaccharides; vegetable glycerin pulls out the triterpenes. Doing both, separately, means the finished extract carries the full range rather than half of it. We use purified water and vegetable glycerin — no alcohol.
Third-party tested. Every batch goes to an independent lab and is checked for heavy metals and contaminants. Ask us for the certificate for your batch and we'll send it.
Explore the full range → or work out which one fits you →
Food supplements. Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and not a substitute for a varied diet and a healthy lifestyle. Historical and traditional uses are described here for context and are not claims about what these products do. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or have a medical condition, speak to a healthcare professional before use.