🍄 What Is A Mushroom?

Here’s a new spin on the CAPTCHA for you:

 Which one of the below images is a mushroom? A or B?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out, but apparently it’s too difficult of a distinction for many mycologists.

The mycelium vs. fruiting body mushroom ‘debate’ has spilled over from the historically niche mushroom supplement industry into mainstream culture; this week, a Rolling Stone article unpacked some of the nuance and controversy around this increasingly vital discourse that pits some of the multibillion dollar mushroom industry’s biggest brands and star personalities directly against each other.

Mycopreneur is featured in the article, with special attention given to a recent Mycopreneur Podcast episode with Real Mushrooms founder Skye Chilton. Skye represents a consortium of mushroom industry stakeholders who vociferously advocate for more sensible labeling of mushroom supplements to indicate whether or not the product in question is in fact composed of mushrooms, like the image you selected in the CAPTCHA test above, or composed of myceliated grain - the starch filler on the right that you clearly identified as a non-mushroom.

There are apparently still lingering doubts about the science behind whether or not ‘mycelium on grain’ supplements are equally meritorious to fruiting body mushroom extracts in regards to their efficacy and purported health benefits to the consumers who largely unwittingly purchase them. There may certainly be health benefits to mushroom mycelium, as is claimed in this peer-reviewed publication, but consumers are generally thinking they’re buying a spitting image of what all of us mentally project when we hear ‘mushroom’, and not starch-filled ‘fungal biomass’ in the form of mycelium on grain.

But the truth to this ‘fruiting body vs. mycelium’ debate might more readily be found in a simple question of economics:

If the much cheaper to produce and scale ‘mycelium supplements’ were as effective as ‘fruiting body mushroom supplements’, why would anybody use real fruiting body mushrooms in their products?

It would make zero sense economically for companies to continue producing fruiting body mushroom supplements, yet many of the most reputable and venerable mushroom supplement makers in the global mushroom industry hold to the science and history of health benefits accorded to fruiting body mushrooms.

If you want to know what I think - take a look at the fruiting body extract mushroom coffee I drink below.

A further question to pontificate on is why nobody uses or advocates for psilocybin mycelium in the absolutely booming underground mushroom market. Have you ever met anyone who has had a psiloycbin mycelium microdose or an active mycelium chocolate? I certainly never have, and I’ve seen a lot of products.

I’ll qualify here that I’m not a mycologist or a clinical researcher, but rather a commentator and observer of the meta-trends and dynamics shaping the present and future of the mushroom industry. I regularly host experts in this subject matter on the Mycopreneur Podcast, and have yet to find anyone willing to endorse the purported health claims of mycelium on grain products. I am completely open to platforming anyone with skin in the game who wants to push the health benefits of mycelium and debate in favor of it as a a health supplement.

Yesterday’s Mycopreneur Podcast goes deeper into this ongoing debate within the mushroom industry, and features the primary stakeholder pushing for a change in labeling of mushroom vs. mycelium products: Global mushroom industry pioneer Jeff Chilton, founder of Nammex.

Jeff has been a commercial mushroom cultivator for 50 years and maintains an outsized influence in the mushroom supplement space. He returns to the Mycopreneur Podcast for the second time to unpack more of the ongoing discourse outlined in this newsletter, and to share insights into the future of the mushroom space. Listen to the podcast via the link below and let me know what you think.

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Today is also a great day to vote for Mycopreneur in the Third Annual Wonderland Awards presented by Microdose -

You can vote for Mycopreneur as Media Company of the Year and for Dennis Walker as Reporter of the Year by following this link and casting your vote once per day for the next 6 days: https://awards.wonderlandconference.com/vote/

Thanks for being a part of the Mycopreneur community and my inbox is always open to you as a valued member of the mushroom movement.

Cheers,

DW