The term “functional mushrooms” refers to a range of species of mushrooms that functional medicine advocates believe have properties beyond their nutritional makeup. According to some practitioners and clinical studies, some functional mushrooms can be beneficial to your health and may assist in the treatment of some health conditions.

Our functional mushroom extracts are offered as dietary supplements and we advise people to consult with their naturopath, clinician or specialist if intending to take one or more of these supplements. We suggest specifically asking if the supplement might conflict with other medications or otherwise be known to cause undesirable side effects in the management of your ongoing healthcare.

While many producers and resellers might not include this advice, we want our customers to treat themselves and these supplements with the respect they deserve. It is our aim to ensure our customers are receiving the best advice available for their particular needs.

We grow a wide range of Oyster mushrooms, including Blue, White, Italian (Phoenix), King, Grey, Yellow and Pink. We also specialise in Lion’s Mane, Chestnuts, Black Pearl, Coral tooth and other gourmet varieties. We also grow some traditionally extracted mushrooms in a separate chamber, but these are not made available for purchase.

Our mushrooms are all grown at our home, inside a specialised grow chamber that has a permanently controlled environment. We have various devices that allow us to control the temperature, humidity, oxygen exchange and C02 levels inside the chamber. Monitoring all of these areas is vital to our successful growing of functional mushrooms.

Functional mushrooms such as Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Turkey Tail and many others, have to be properly extracted using water and food grade ethanol. While using just water or just ethanol will extract some of the components, a complete extract requires both processes and then remixing to properly combine the full range of known available nutrients. This process has been the same for thousands of years.

No. The amount of alcohol per serve is about 0.03%, which is less than a glass of orange juice or just a bit more than what a ripe banana contains. When taken according to recommendations, extracts are safe, do not register in breath or blood testing and actually assist the extracted compounds to be absorbed, this is called bioavailability. Even if a person drank an entire bottle, the total alcohol content would be less than a shot of vodka and we would be more concerned about someone ingesting that much extract rather than the alcohol itself.

No. The process of extracting the alcohol means interfering with the traditional process of extraction and we do not feel (given the miniscule amount of alcohol involved) it is something that should be done. Removing the alcohol will add to the cost and may provide other negative experiences.

There is no evidence to support products like Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) are better than extracts made using traditional methods.  Combining these compounds may have a negative effect on the person taking them and in our view should be avoided.

Be careful. ACV is made by combining apples and yeast. The yeast converts sugar in the apples into alcohol, bacteria are then added to the mixture, which ferment the alcohol into acetic acid. While several studies in animals and humans have found that acetic acid and apple cider vinegar may promote fat-burning, weight loss, decrease blood sugar levels, increase insulin sensitivity and improve cholesterol levels, which some of the mushroom extracts are also addressing, there are no definitive studies about using the two compounds in unison.

We feel anyone selling ACV as an ‘alcohol free’ alternative is potentially misleading the consumer about alcohol in the product. It is more likely that ACV simply masks the taste of the alcohol normally experienced in dual extraction tinctures and may have an effect on the benefits the person is seeking from the functional mushroom supplement itself.

We do not grow button, white cap or field mushrooms like the ones you will find in major supermarkets. About 92% of these mushrooms (globally) are grown under licence from one US supplier.

We feel the current lack of regulation across so many food products in the United States:

• Beans, peas, cereal seeds, and uncooked meat and pork products, as well as uncooked nuts, raw salmon and trout are prohibited. 
• Capsicum, chilli, tomato, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini and squash are not permitted. 

Bans on these and other food products that are not assessed by the FDA, would have to be assessed in Australia by the TGA, which means some US supply chains do not offer the biosecurity that Australian’s might be looking for in their food supply and finished products.

The major Australian grower of these mushrooms use US made spawn under licence and the spawn is patented, which leads to questions about genetic influencing and modification.