This is red capped, commercial Chinese strain of Reishi, also known as the “Mushroom of Immortality” or Ling-Chi. This mushroom is beautifully lacquered with almost entirely red new growth and white tips. We cultivate this one in bags indoors and keep the bags shut until they have stretched a bit, then roll down the sides to let them flatten. A potent medicinal mushroom, Reishi’s powers range from sugar regulation for diabetics to cancer fighting properties. We like to make tinctures and extracts with the fruitbodies, and use the extracts to dose beverages including our Reishi Red Ale, a mushroom beer with medicinal therapies brewed right in! Outdoors this mushroom grows on oak, cherry and maple logs, half buried the best, but can adapt to other hardwoods. We also fruit this one indoors very easily on sterilized sawdust, fruiting in 14-21 days! This mushroom is corky and bitter, so we prefer to dry them fresh and grind them up in a blender to make a fluffy fiber, then make extracts.
Edibility and Taste | Bitter, corky texture |
Grows On | Hardwood logs and sawdust: oak, elm, maple, sycamore, beech, plum, peach, mimosa |
Fruiting Temps | 60-85F |
Availability | Year-Round |