Where Are Our Medicinal Mushrooms From?

In the modern world pollution is becoming a big problem and we would like to reassure our customers that we are aware of the problem. 

We searched long and hard to find a medicinal mushroom supplier that could produce clean, safe and powerful medicinal mushroom extracts.

The base materials for all our extracts are grown in areas of China away from pollution and industry, areas such as the Dabie mountains which are 85% covered in dense forest.

These farms have been organically certified by ECOCERT a company with 30 years experience in organic certification. 

All new batches of mushroom extracts are tested by our supplier to make sure they pass all safety checks. Third party analysis has also been carried out by EUROFINS in Europe.

Found within the cell walls of mushrooms and for that matter the exoskeletons of anthropods such as crabs and lobsters we find a substance called Chitin.

An interesting fact for you now the structure of Chitin was first discovered by Albert Hoffman the first man to synthesize and ingest LSD!

Now this Chitin substance is extremely tough and cannot been broken down by the human digestive system without an enzyme called Chitianese. Which very few humans have in their stomachs in large amounts.

And those that do would still struggle to break down the cell walls.

This means all the amazing health benefits are trapped within the cells of the mushroom and cannot be used by the body.

That sucks right?

But wait....there is an easy solution!

The Molecular Structure Of Chitin

From about 600-1000 AD the Chinese discovered cultivation techniques for many medicinal and culinary mushrooms to meet the ever growing demand – for food and potent medicine. 

This tradition of growing and using medicinal mushrooms in China has carried on to modern times.

China is one of the largest producers and exporters of wild edible fungi in the world. 

Mushroom production ranks within the top five after grain, vegetable, fruit, greater than sugar, cotton, and the tobacco business.

The cultivation of mushrooms in China is also helping to alleviate poverty in rural areas of China.

Mushroom cultivation has a high impact on China's poverty alleviation program, with earnings at least ten times higher than rice and corn.

A villager trims lingzhi mushrooms at a greenhouse in Shuimotou Village in northern China's Hebei Province

One great example is Shuimotou village in northern China.

They have developed a mechanism for lingzhi mushroom cultivation, joining planting bases, cooperatives and farmers together, to promote the industry as a way of increasing local farmers' income.

More than 100 villagers realised an increase of more than 5,000 yuan (733 U.S.dollars) in annual per capita income.

China has a very long history of herbal medicine going back hundreds if not thousands of years.

Did you know that the biggest use of medicinal mushrooms originates from China and they were often used in popular herbal formulas. 

Its only in recent years that western culture has started to understand the benefits of taking these medicinal mushrooms as the ideas of Traditional Chinese Medicine ( TCM ) began to mix with the west. 

As an example one such formula from TCM called Ling Zhi Fei Pian Reishi was used with the following herbs

• Reishi 46%
• Shrubby Sophora Root 21%
• Jujube Fruit, Chinese Red Date 13%
• Chinese Liquorice Root 7%

Ling Zhi Fei Pian was used to help treat problems affecting the lungs such as asthma, trouble breathing, wheezing and coughs, Reishi along with the others herbs helped reduce phlegm in the lungs. 

This is only one example of countless formulas that used medicinal mushrooms.

This deep interest in plant medicine stems from Daoism a pragmatic and philosophical religion from ancient China.

The Daoist's were deeply fascinated with nature and it's hidden energy's and sort to live in harmony with the natural world. 

Shennong Tasting A Plant

Shennong Ben Cao Jing was a Chinese book on agriculture and medicinal plants, traditionally attributed to Shennong (the Divine Farmer) he is the legendary originator of Chinese herbal medicine.

Researchers believe the text is a compilation of oral traditions, written between about 206 BC and 220 AD.

The most important treatise in the Chinese medicine tradition is undoubtedly a Li Shizhen (1518-1593).

A monumental work published in 1578, Bencao Gangmu; a culmination of his 26 years of field study and reading of over 800 medical reference books.

This 53 volume Compendium of Materia Medical, as it is also called, references and thoroughly describes 1,892 medicinal substances (444 animal, 1,094 herbs, and 275 mineral substances; and 20 species of medicinal mushrooms) and almost 11,100 detailed prescriptions.

Over 8,000 of which were compiled by Li Shizen himself.  Li Shizhen was the first to describe and use distillation, ephedrine, iodine, and even smallpox inoculation.

This 16th century printed edition of the Li Shizen's Bencao Gangmu can be seen in the National Museum of China, in Beijing.