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juln
Hypotheses


Registered: 09/16/13
Posts: 49
Last seen: 11 months, 9 days
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Increasing the potency and shelf life of capsuled mushrooms
#26708608 - 05/31/20 07:16 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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After a longer break from this website and a break from mushrooms in general (I use them predominantly to treat cluster headaches), I thought I'd drop into the forum and pose a few questions to the community. - I hope you have all been well over the years!
In the past, I have tried many methods of consumption and I have found that brewing the mushrooms as a tea with fresh lemon juice is by far the most effective - it's remarkably fast and relatively simple, in fact noticeably so in comparison to other methods. I have also read some anecdotal reports that aside from lemon juice, taking specific nootropics such as piracetam has had similar effects for some people (i.e., the mushrooms feel more potent and the trip is shorter).
I have recently grown a new flush of mushrooms and I'd like to do some experiments...
In the past, I have found that storing the mushrooms is easiest when they are ground into a powder and subsequently stored in gelatin capsules. I have found that putting silica gel pouches into the container that stores the mushroom capsules has potentially extended their shelf life by about 6 months - generally, for me, they have lasted around 8-12 months before losing potency in this way.
It is my understanding that commercial vitamin and supplement producers are using various ingredients in their capsules to increase the shelf life.
In light of the above, I have a few theories and therefore a few questions:
- Has anyone ever tried to grind up commercial nootropics such as piracetam or brain-focused multivitamins/supplements with ginko, etc., and then added this powder as an addition to their gelatin capsules? I also wonder whether this would improve the shelf life of the mushrooms?
- If I dry out lemons in a dehydrator and grind them into powder to add to the mushroom powder, is this going to be similar to making mushroom tea with lemon juice? In theory when it dissolves together in the stomach, it is doing the same thing as it would be in the tea...
I'm probably going to try the above anyway, and will be happy to report back when I do, but in the meantime it would be good to know if this is a waste of time and mushrooms. Fundamentally, I'd like to find a way to store capsules for at least a year without any loss of potency, in addition, I would like to try to find a way to make these capsules kick in faster, the same way that drinking a mushroom tea would.
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chronotope999
Explorer



Registered: 10/09/19
Posts: 61
Loc: Ribbon World
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Re: Increasing the potency and shelf life of capsuled mushrooms [Re: juln]
#26708641 - 05/31/20 07:43 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Sadly I don't have answers to your questions, but I'm looking forward to reading what other people have to say.
I was interested to read your experience re: stored mushroom potency, however. My reading has suggested that dried mushrooms should keep indefinitely without much loss in potency. However, my finds from last Autumn seemed to lose a lot of potency after 3 months or so - in line with your observations. I didn't grind them, only dried and placed in a mason jar with silica gel desiccant.
Good luck on your mission, friend!
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DJ Ed
Mushroom Engineer


Registered: 09/04/16
Posts: 2,326
Loc: UK
Last seen: 1 month, 28 days
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Re: Increasing the potency and shelf life of capsuled mushrooms [Re: juln]
#26708875 - 05/31/20 10:46 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Storing mushrooms is easiest when you first of all dry them, then grind them to powder, then you get that powder into hundreds of gelatine capsules, then you bag and freeze them. How is that easiest, dude?
Stick in a dehydrator. Cracker dry in four hours. Bag and freeze. Job done. Last week I had some golden teachers from my stocks, which went into my freezer in March 2017 (over 3 years), and they were super potent.
I reckon that’s the easiest AND the most effective way of storing mushrooms. With minimal loss of potency after the initial drying. There are reports of 100 year old dried mushrooms that still contain psilocybin.
DJ Ed
-------------------- “It’s like when you see a mountain lion,” he suggested. “If you run, it will chase you. So you must stand your ground.” Michael Pollan: How To Change Your Mind “The problem is not to find the answer, it’s to face the answer.” Terence McKenna

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