Lion's Mane | How to identify quality and powerful product | Best in test

Our own journey with Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) and mushrooms has been breathtaking and has taught us many new lessons. By reading about mushrooms, attending mushroom courses, searching for mushrooms in nature, and trying mushrooms in various ways, we gain a deeper understanding. With the right knowledge and with our hearts in the right place, we can create powerful mushroom products!

We have used Lion's Mane, or Hedgehog Mushroom, in various forms and prepared in different ways. It is obvious that the mushroom products on the market are of varying quality. It is difficult to rely on "Best in test" online. It can be extremely confusing and not easy to know what to look for.

Firstly, it's important to know WHAT part of the mushroom has been used. Is it the mushroom fruiting body itself or is it mycelium?
Secondly, you want to know HOW your mushroom product has been made.

Here we have compiled a few points to help you identify good quality Lion's Mane:

What color should Lion's Mane be?

Lion's Mane in powder and tincture should be BROWN in color.

How should Lion's Mane tincture taste?

Mushrooms contain terpenes which give a bitter taste. Terpenes are extracted with the help of alcohol. So if your Lion's Mane powder or tincture has been extracted with alcohol, you should have a slightly bitter taste. In other words, it should not be sweet.

You also want the taste to be full-bodied and have a distinct taste and aroma of cocoa or chocolate. Wow! When we ourselves felt that subtle hint of chocolate in our Lion's Mane tincture, we experienced a rush of happiness!

Dual extraction process

The color and taste of Lion's Mane often depend on how the product has been extracted. If the product (powder or tincture) has only been extracted in one step. We want our Lion's Mane to have been extracted in two steps, using both water + heat and alcohol.

By using both water and alcohol, we extract both water-soluble and alcohol-soluble substances from the mushroom.

We have a great post/recipe on how to make your own Chaga tincture. Here we describe in more detail how the dual extraction process works.

Ps. A tincture is mushroom in liquid form, a concentrated form for internal use.

The Iodine Test

You can do a simple test at home to identify different ways to test your mushroom product. By dropping a few drops of iodine into your tincture, you can determine from the color whether your product contains important, active substances such as fiber. Some products on the market contain too much starch (due to how the mushroom was cultivated).

The iodine test is super easy to do, but of course you need to have liquid iodine at home. Read about how to do the iodine test here.

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So, to summarize:

Look at the color, is it brown? Taste your Lion's Mane. Does it taste full-bodied, with a slight hint of bitterness and a trace of chocolate? Then you probably have a good quality Lion's Mane with a powerful effect.

Örtfabriken loves mushrooms and you can find a lot of great information on our blog and on our social media. So stay tuned! If you are interested in trying our mushrooms, you can find them here.