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Mycoangler
Registered: 06/01/03
Posts: 61
Loc: Like Horse Shit
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Reishi Tea
#2216791 - 01/03/04 02:03 PM (20 years, 29 days ago) |
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Hi,
I am in the Northeast USA, and I find a lot of Reishi growing wild in my area. It is Ganoderma lucidum, the variety that grows on hard wood (shown in photo). They start off with yellowish tints, but then become reddish brown at maturity, at which point the whole area that they are found in becomes thickly covered with their brown spore deposit!
 Some of the people that sell this stuff say that it makes great tasting tea, but I have tried several times with my wild collections, and the tea is asolutely horrible! Today I tried boiling the pieces in water with several tablespoons of brown sugar added to the water. It was very bitter, and too sweet at the same time!!! This stuff really does taste like medicine!
Are there different strains of this stuff that tastes better? Is there something I can do with these to make a drinkable beverage? I haven't tried alcohol yet, but I'll bet that it would taste like medicine that way too .
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puggymalone
just looking forlove

Registered: 08/19/03
Posts: 212
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I haven't tried making a tea of the reishi yet. But everything I have read says that it is a bitter substance. Maybe the person that told you it makes great tea was talking about a different strain. A lot of reishi extract is sold in pill form to bypass the bitter taste. If you are looking for the benifits of the reishi, maybe this would be a better choice. puggy
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creekfarmer
cultivator
Registered: 06/27/03
Posts: 94
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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The color that is shown in your picture is very bitter as you well know. It's the same that we get in South Carolina. The black variety is not as bitter as the yellow.
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hawk
Stranger
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 275
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Very nice find! Fresh is better then anything you can find in a store. If you take vitamin C with it, it will potentate the effects.
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MycoFactory
Mr MycoBag

Registered: 04/02/03
Posts: 549
Loc: NC, USA
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I love reishi but hate the bitter taste. I found that using the tea water to make orange juice from concentrate works great. It covers the taste plus you get some vitamin C to help break down the polysaccharides so your body can absorb them easier.
Mycobag
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Mycoangler
Registered: 06/01/03
Posts: 61
Loc: Like Horse Shit
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Thanks,
I never would have thought of the juice idea! I will try that. I read that vitamin C should be consumed with Grifola frodosa for the same reason, so it makes sense that this would be true of other fungi also.
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creekfarmer
cultivator
Registered: 06/27/03
Posts: 94
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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vitamin c is a graet idea, but the acid in the juice messes up the active ingredient in everything. Same reason why you should'nt take echinacea or goldenseal with o.j. I take two tea bags of my favorite tea and brew it strong with the mushroom tea. It's not too bad with a little honey.
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