Mushroom Tincture

The health and wellness industry provides its enthusiasts with multiple ways of enjoying and experiencing nature’s best power foods. From the renowned CBD and now mushroom tinctures, you don’t know longer have to come up with complicated recipes to consume your favourite mushroom.  If it’s your first time hearing about mushroom tinctures, you’re at the right place.

What are Mushroom Tinctures?

Tinctures have been around for thousands of years now. You probably know them as the little bottles that come with a dropper. Mushroom tinctures aren’t any different, only that they contain concentrated liquid extracted that is created by soaking the fungi in a solvent, usually vinegar, water or alcohol. These solvents draw the desired compound from the fungi creating a concentrated liquid that you can dose by the drop.  For commercial mushroom tinctures, alcohol is the most desired solvent because of its efficiency in drawing out the beneficial compounds in the mushroom.

Most individuals are just starting to learn about tinctures. But they’ve been here as long as people first learned how to distil alcohol. For the longest time, tinctures have provided humanity with a quick and efficient way to deliver concentrated beneficial compounds into their bodies without having to eat the actual product.

With increasing demands for mushrooms because of their health and medicinal benefits, it’s only natural that consumers would want to find more effective methods of consuming mushrooms on a daily basis without having to conjure up recipes that take hours to prepare.

Why not view our wide range of mushroom products? From Mushroom Capsules, Mushroom Tea, and Mushroom Oil to Mushroom Tinctures, Mushroom Gummies and more!

Types of Mushroom Tinctures

Mushroom tinctures have enjoyed a lot of success in a short span of time. You can get almost every edible mushroom on the planet squeezed and packaged in a small little bottle you can take wherever you go. This diversity allows mushroom fans to pick and choose the tinctures that best suit them.

Mushroom tinctures are divided into two main categories based on the types of mushrooms used to create them;

Magic Tinctures

Magic tinctures are a common way to consume magic mushrooms known for their hallucinogenic effects, most commonly the psilocybin mushroom. These tinctures pack concentrated types of magic mushrooms which you can consume on the go. However, in some locations, possession of magic mushrooms is still illegal, and because of the potency of the mushrooms and the concentration of the tincture, we highly recommend you proceed with caution if the mushrooms are legal in your locality and you can access them.

Medicinal Mushroom Tinctures

These are the most common type of mushroom tinctures you will find on the market. They’re readily sold in stores and online marketplaces. It’s also common for some seasoned mushroom lovers to make tinctures at home.

The tinctures are commonly used as a general wellness supplement and as a type of naturopathic medicine. The tinctures are made with medicinal mushrooms known to have specific therapeutic properties. Some of the most commonly touted benefits of mushrooms are overall neurological health and immune support. The exact benefits you can expect from medicinal mushroom tinctures depend on the type of mushroom used. Some of the most common medicinal mushrooms are;

• Chaga
• Cordyceps
• Shitake
• Lion’s mane
• Reishi
• Turkey tail

For these mushrooms, water or alcohol is the preferred solvent depending on the mushroom. In some cases, some tinctures use both solvents to maximise the extraction of the beneficial compounds.

Mushroom Tincture Extractions

Extraction is a vital part of mushroom tinctures. More often than not, mushroom tinctures are made using a double extraction process – more on this later.

Not all mushrooms need the double extraction method because they have desirable compounds that are soluble in water or alcohol.

Water-based mushroom extractions

Hot water breaks down the chitin (a protective layer of mushrooms). Water also dissolves water-soluble compounds like polysaccharides and beta-glucans trapped behind the calls of the chitin. Alcohol does not break down chitin; therefore, not using alcohol extraction means you miss out on the desirable compounds found in the cells found in the chitin.

While water-based mushroom extractions are desirable, water as a solvent is rarely used to make tinctures. Water-only extractions are technically infused and teas. However, water, in addition to alcohol, is used to process certain mushroom species.

Mushroom alcohol extractions

Alcohol solvent extracts acidic and basic compounds called triterpenes and sterols in mushrooms that do not dissolve well in water. Using alcohol maximises the concentrations of these compounds for maximum benefits. Because the alcohol-extracted tinctures are ingested, food-grade alcohol is used for the extraction process.

Double extraction

Double extraction utilises both water and alcohol as solvents. However, not all mushrooms need to go through double extraction to get the desired compounds. Double extraction requires that the mushroom type is individually extracted using each of the solvents to maximise potency and quality. Each of the separate liquid concentrates can be mixed later to create a blended tincture.

Benefits of Mushroom Tinctures

There are tonnes of reasons why you should give mushroom tinctures a try. Some of the benefits are health-related, and others are convenience-based.

It’s convenient

Think about buying a mushroom tincture containing your favourite mushroom. Think about not having to go into the kitchen everyone you want to enjoy the benefits of that mushroom. Instead, you can take a few drops of concentrated extracts containing all the beneficial compounds in that mushroom. It’s fast, efficient and time-saving.

Health benefits

Mushrooms are known to have numerous health benefits. Using mushroom tinctures, you can enjoy the health and nutritional benefits of your selected type of mushroom tinctures. These may include aiding in weight loss, preventing and managing various diseases and conditions, improving cognitive functions and improving cognitive functions.

Portable and accessible

Mushroom tinctures come in compact and portable packaging. Most of the tinctures have a leak-proof seal. You can carry the tinctures wherever you go, and the dropper that comes with the packaging makes it easier to enjoy the tincture anywhere you are without any extra tools.  

Affordable

Mushroom tinctures are affordable. Because they are highly concentrated, you only need a few drops of the tincture to achieve your daily nutritional requirements to experience the benefits. You experience the cost-saving benefits of tinctures when you compare how many mushrooms you would have to purchase to achieve the same nutritional requirements. Also, with tinctures, you don’t need to worry about losing some of the desirable compounds to destruction by heat.