First, a disclaimer. I have no idea what I'm doing, so DO add to the conversation below. HIVE is a social media and a conversation - it's not about me being an expert and you blindly listening to me. This is what worries me - I'm following information on the internet, which is not always accurate, so I'm super willing to hear from anyone about what I'm missing.

I'm not going to talk about the medicinal benefits of mushrooms here - there's plenty of that online! Part of the reason I want to get into reishi medicine is for liver and for my asthma/lung function. Also - mushrooms are just all around amazing so it's about time I learnt more about making medicine from them! But, asthma again:

Reishi mushrooms aid in improving oxygen utilization, which helps those who are prone to asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and similar conditions.

First of all, I grew my own reishi from a kit from Aussie Mushroom supplies. That was cool enough. Then I tinctured it in alcohol for three months. I mean, amazing enough, right?

Then to a little bit of research, reading what I could. For the recipe, I ended up using three articles to deduce what would work for me - one from Mountain Rose Herbs, one from Practical Self Reliance and one from Modern Forager. Each one added to my understanding of what to do. It was a little frustrating having it all in quarts and gallons as we're metric here in Australia so I had to keep converting! Let alone fahrenheit...

First of all this is what my measurements worked out at, for my own record.

1 3/4 cups of reishi alchohol extract (I Used 43% abv vodka 0r 86 percent) 2 cups of leftover soaked reishi (I was left with two cups) 1.3 litres of water (that's what worked out in my pan)

This article suggested that the ratio is 1:3. That means I needed about 2/3 cup of the water extract, reducing what was in the pan considerably!

This took about two hours. Some people use the magic butter machine and keep the temp stable but most recipes said 'simmer' so that's what I did. Then, the whole lot goes in together, and then it goes into little brown dropper bottles ready for dosing!

I have recently ordered a book on medicinal mushrooms and am keen on learning more! I was listening to the Mushroom Hour podcast and they interviewed fourth generation herbalist and mycologist Christopher Hobbs - you can listen here. I got mine from Life Cykel so if you're in Australia and would like to order a copy, use my referall link below for a discount! This is the book:

You can pick up a copy here - use referall link below

There was so much interesting info in the podcast, I can't even begin to see what I might get from the book! I've been wanting to buy a medicinal mushroom book for a long time so I'm pretty excited about the post coming in a week's time. Referral Link to Life Cykel - get $12 off your order

Do you grow your own mushrooms?

Have you ever made a mushroom tincture?

With Love,

^{The Fungi Lovers Community: Home of #FungiFriday}

^{The Herbal Hive Community}

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