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 Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 10,285
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 Reishi preparation questions 
#5925988 - 08/02/06 04:33 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Ok, so I've gotten ahold of a pound of reishi conks. I took one and sliced it up, and fed it to the coffee grinder. It's shredded, but nowhere close to a powder.
Is powder better?
If so, how do I reduce the conk to a powder?
Also, I've read that pressure cooking reishi at 15psi releases more polysaccrides. I'm assuming this should be done with wet reishi, so..
Is it OK to dry the wet PCed reishi and store it for later use? Or would that reduce the effectivness?
I'd like to PC my reishi, but I don't want to drag the PC out every time I want a cup of tea.
Thanks,
Kevin
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rahz
comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace I am I feel I do I love I speak I see I know
"If you knew how quickly people forget the dead... you would stop living to impress people." — Christopher Walken
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 shroomaker
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: Rahz]
#5926407 - 08/02/06 06:48 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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I would be interested in hearing views on this as well. I plugged some logs 6 months ago and am now getting some nice reishi starts. Problem is, I have no idea what to do with them once they mature.
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RogerRabbit
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Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: shroomaker]
#5926464 - 08/02/06 07:04 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Mrs Rabbit boils hers for several hours along with the bones from our steaks and lamb shanks/chops that we save. The broth from the marrow within the bones gives an excellent flavor. After boiling(she also throws in any polypores we've collected recently such as turkey tails, fomitopsis pinicola, ganoderma oregonese, etc), add salt and pepper to taste and use the broth to make rice, pasta, or as a base for soups. We don't care much for the straight tea, but made this way, we can eat reishi and other polypores with every meal, and the flavor is excellent. There is also no need to reduce the polypore to a powder. Just break it into several pieces and boil for a few hours as said.
RR
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"I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work."
Thomas Edison
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Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 10,285
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5932409 - 08/04/06 07:01 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Ahh, cool. So you freeze the broth and use it when you need it?
That is something I'm curious about, but I'm really all about some tea right now, I've got other ingredients such as ginseng, ginkgo, eleuthero, ect I'm experimenting with.
I've noticed that several places sell powderized reishi, ginseng, etc. but my intensive internet searches for a device which will powderize something like reishi has been fruitless. I know such a machine exists, though it's probably pricey if it's not a consumer product... still, I'd like to know what it is.
I've been making tea with my reishi, that is a BITTER mushroom. The shredded cardboard consistancy from my coffee grinder get's the job done, but I'm pretty sure I'm not getting all the goods with a 1/2 hour boil. I don't want to spend hours a day making tea, so the search continues. Once I figure out a low cost method of powderizing reishi, I'll post it.
Rahz
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rahz
comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace I am I feel I do I love I speak I see I know
"If you knew how quickly people forget the dead... you would stop living to impress people." — Christopher Walken
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GnuBobo
Frilly Cuffs Extraordinaire
Registered: 06/17/04
Posts: 43,754
Loc: Charisma
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: Rahz]
#5932443 - 08/04/06 07:14 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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I toss in around 10 g of shredded ganoderma (fluffy stuff, really, after being in a coffee grinder) add around 1.75 liters of boiling water, all in a PP pitcher, let it sit until it cools, stirring occasionally to mix it up. Shouldn't this extract most of the good stuff? I chill it and then drink a cup or so a day (though sometimes I lapse on that  ).
I just thought that hot-water infusion, and sitting--rather like sun tea--should be okay. The taste isn't great, but, it's tolerable cold. Sort of like a protein shake that doesn't taste good--you just get it down.
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Jerry Garcia. JERRY GARCIA! JERRY GARCIA!!!!
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shroomaker
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: Rahz]
#5932748 - 08/04/06 09:03 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Found this on a website. I just need to find a mortar and pestle...
Powdering can be accomplished by cutting the mushroom into smaller pieces using a coping saw or other device, and then grinding it with a mortar and pestle. The powder is then simmered at a low temperature for 2 to 3 hours or until the original water level has been reduced by two-thirds. The tea can then be strained and sweetened with honey.
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GnuBobo
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: shroomaker]
#5932772 - 08/04/06 09:10 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Dude--just get one of those columnar coffee grinders--break up the dried bits, stuff it in, then grind it for a minute or so. If things seemed jammed, hold the top and bottom, while it's grinding, and shake it around. Your grinder may get a bit hot--let it sit if so. It really depends on how much you intend to shred at a time. Then just put that product into a plastic baggie and save it for when you want to make tea. You can weigh it if you want--I just eyeball it. 
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Jerry Garcia. JERRY GARCIA! JERRY GARCIA!!!!
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shroomaker
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: GnuBobo]
#5933892 - 08/05/06 08:01 AM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for the coffee grinder tip. Hey, does anyone know whether drying the reishi destroys any of the medicinal properties? Also, if not dried, how long can fresh reishi be stored before needing to be used - and what is the best means for storage?
Thanks--
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RogerRabbit
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Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: shroomaker]
#5934661 - 08/05/06 01:35 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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They'll keep dry for years, and the medicinal properties stay intact.
Also, you can grow reishi in a liquid culture, then strain the liquid away from the mycelium, and all the properties of the fruitbodies are contained in the mycelium, which can be dried and powdered. This is what the suppliers of Reishi and other medicinals in tablet and capsule form such as fungi perfecti and others do.
RR
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Download Let's Grow Mushrooms
semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat
"I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work."
Thomas Edison
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GnuBobo
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5935183 - 08/05/06 06:24 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Have you figured out any way to separate the mycelium from the substrate after a block is spent, RR?
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Jerry Garcia. JERRY GARCIA! JERRY GARCIA!!!!
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RogerRabbit
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: GnuBobo]
#5938012 - 08/06/06 06:59 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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That would be asking a bit much. I take mine into the forest and stick them into the cracks of freshly fallen trees.
RR
--------------------
Download Let's Grow Mushrooms
semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat
"I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work."
Thomas Edison
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GnuBobo
Frilly Cuffs Extraordinaire
Registered: 06/17/04
Posts: 43,754
Loc: Charisma
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5938601 - 08/06/06 09:59 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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It just seems like a waste to have that solid block of reishi mycelium and no way to extract it from the wood/grains that weren't digested by the reishi. 
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Jerry Garcia. JERRY GARCIA! JERRY GARCIA!!!!
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Semilanceata
No god, no boss
Registered: 05/26/03
Posts: 841
Loc: República Federal Íbera
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5939229 - 08/06/06 11:42 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Hey Roger, do your wife boil the antlers too or just the conks? Another q.: How much water do you use to make the broth, maybe just to cover the reishi with water? and, do you eat the remaining reishi pieces once the broth is done?
Gracias.
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Sr_Setahongo
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RogerRabbit
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Posts: 42,214
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: Semilanceata]
#5939310 - 08/07/06 12:01 AM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Reishi is too tough to eat. It would be like eating wood. Start out with plenty of water because you're going to be boiling it for a few hours. When making the broth using bones, don't forget to roast the bones in the oven first until they start to brown and smoke a bit. Sometimes all she does is break the conks or antlers up a bit and boil They don't need to be powdered.
Conks or antlers either one are great. We grow them, but mostly we grow out clones we take from the forest. Otherwise, we boil up what we find in the woods.
One other thing....Of course everyone knows the medicinal benefits of the Ganoderma mushrooms, with Reishi the best known because of chinese medicine. What is often overlooked, is that one of the best medicinal mushrooms is also the most common, growing in all 50 US states and most countries as well. It's Fomitopsis pinicola, the 'red belted polypore'. Prepare just as described above.
To answer Gnubo, I don't see why one couldn't cut the substrate blocks up and boil them as well. After all, why not?
RR
--------------------
Download Let's Grow Mushrooms
semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat
"I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work."
Thomas Edison
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GnuBobo
Frilly Cuffs Extraordinaire
Registered: 06/17/04
Posts: 43,754
Loc: Charisma
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5939556 - 08/07/06 01:15 AM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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HORRIBLE taste from wooden substrate/grain taste. Then again...I suppose it could be done.  I just didn't want to mess with it as I'd used hydrated lime along with hot water to pasteurize the substrate...not sure if that would be a good thing to leech out and make as a tea.
Any links to Fomitopsis pinicola characteristics/ID/benefits?
Thanks! 
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Jerry Garcia. JERRY GARCIA! JERRY GARCIA!!!!
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 falcon
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: GnuBobo]
#5941438 - 08/07/06 05:03 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Fomitopsis pinicola characteristics ?
I tasted one a couple of years ago, they are very bitter. I don't find reishi
disagreably bitter at all, less so than an extra hoppy beer. With the fomes that is all you taste is bitter, no mushroom taste at all.
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Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 10,285
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: falcon]
#5942953 - 08/08/06 01:03 AM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Shredded reishi simmered for 30 minutes removes all the flavour, so I'm thinking I'm getting everything out of it this way.
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rahz
comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace I am I feel I do I love I speak I see I know
"If you knew how quickly people forget the dead... you would stop living to impress people." — Christopher Walken
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smoosh
Rain Summoner
Registered: 09/12/10
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Last seen: 11 years, 4 months
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: Rahz]
#17337651 - 12/05/12 10:37 AM (12 years, 3 days ago) |
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I know this is an old thread, but I have the best method for full polypore extraction. Slice it thinly and then dry it. when dry, break into the smallest pieces you can do with your hands. Simmer it on low heat for a couple hours and drink the tea. Now what you do is put the polypore chunks in the best blender you have with fresh water (I love rain water... it tastes like nothing else and has no chlorine or additives) and blend until it is a fine mush. Put back on simmer for a couple hours, sift through a fine strainer, and enjoy. Boil the strained goods again if you want to make sure all the medicine is extracted. I usually get a total of 3 batches of tea from the original polypore chunks. It tastes so potent when its been pulverized by a blender, and maximum surface area is exposed during extraction. And if you dont like waste as much as me, dry the gunk that is in your strainer and save it in a your hiking back pack. BEST fire starter ever! 
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tweekingTwak
shroomery sage
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Re: Reishi preparation questions [Re: smoosh]
#17346677 - 12/06/12 08:12 PM (12 years, 1 day ago) |
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: http://www.parksideorganicranch.com/Herbs---Fungus.html
So would you agree with that they suggested limited usage and to take.vitamin c
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smoosh
Rain Summoner
Registered: 09/12/10
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I definitely agree that vitamin c should always be taken in conjunction.. but I do not believe the polypores have limited usage for safety. There are many testimonials as well as studies that confirm it can be taken indefinitely. I use a larger dose because I'm battling a few immune disorders right now, and It has no ill effect on me so far. Only good. However, I am always sure to take vitamin c along with it. I love eating it with a pommegranite or adding pine needles to the tea for the last 10 minutes of the simmering. Pine needles are a godly medicine as well. Do not fear the Gano!!!
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