Four Functional Mushrooms You Need in Your Life
It’s no secret I love mushrooms. Not just culinary, but functional mushrooms - the kind that grow in deep, dense forests, on fallen logs and trees, and have been used medicinally for thousands of years.
While the rest of the world has taken some time to warm up to these superfood, adaptogenic mushrooms, thankfully the tides are changing. But with a kingdom that contains over 1.5 million fungi varieties, it’s understandable to feel a little confused. After all, not all of those species are edible mushrooms. Some are poisonous, some are psychedelic, and some are just plain tasty!
If you’re not sure where to start, consider these:
Reishi
Also called lingzhi in China, which signifies longevity and spirituality, Reishi has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years. Reishi is so esteemed that in ancient scroll paintings, it’s often depicted as the “bridge between Earth and Heaven”. Other nicknames for this regal fungi include “mushroom of immortality,” “mushroom of spiritual potency,” and “ruler of herbs”. As an adaptogen with the ability to support occasional stress and restful sleep, it’s an amazing nightly ritual to add to your wellness routine. Because it has a naturally bitter taste, I like to pair it with rich cacao for guilt-free hot cacao, like in our Four Sigmatic Hot Cacao with Reishi.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom
One look at Lion’s Mane mushroom and you’ll understand where it got its name. Fluffy, bright white, and typically found growing on hardwood trees, this shaggy mane mushroom has a delicious, meaty texture and is often used in cooking. Also known as the brain’s best friend, Lion’s Mane has been used by Buddhist monks to help focus during meditation. I love it for creativity and productivity during busy work days.
Chaga
An outlier of sorts in the mushroom kingdom where warm and humid is the preferred climate of most fungi, Chaga grows in cold environments, like Siberia, North Korea, Canada, and some colder parts of the United States.
With Chaga, the general rule is the more mature the chaga, the better; taking between 15 to 20 years to fully age. Overflowing with antioxidant properties and beta-glucans, Chaga is often brewed as a tea to help support the immune system. It can also be ground into a powder and consumed that way for the same reason. I add Four Sigmatic Chaga Elixir to every cup of coffee I drink.
Cordyceps
Used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries, wild Cordyceps’ origin story reads like a science fiction novel. It begins its life as an endoparasitoid, meaning it grows as a parasite, typically on caterpillars. (Our Cordyceps is much friendlier; we don’t use caterpillars in our production process and our products are vegan-friendly.) Cordyceps are most commonly used for athletic performance, to support stamina and endurance. It helps you to move and keep going.
At Four Sigmatic, we take the fruiting bodies of these functional mushrooms, extract them, and add them into daily staples like coffee, and plant-based protein to make it deliciously easy for you to support your wellness with functional mushrooms. I recommend starting with Four Sigmatic Ground Coffee with Lion’s Mane (there’s Chaga in there too) if you want to try two of these four functional mushrooms every morning in a cup of organic, crash-free coffee.
Tero Isokauppila is the founder of Four Sigmatic. Tero’s roots (or mycelium, if you will) are in Finland, where he grew up growing and foraging natural foods on his 13th generation family’s farm. He later earned a degree in Chemistry and Business, and a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition at Cornell University. An expert in all things related to nutrition, health, and wellness, Tero is the author of two best-selling books: Healing Mushrooms, an educational cookbook from Avery Publishing, and Santa Sold Shrooms, a children’s book for adults about the magical origins of Santa Claus.
