We have been producing simple mushroom extracts for over ten years. We grow mushrooms on hardwood logs and sawdust, and we dry them after harvest. The dried mushrooms are simmered slowly in filtered water and the resulting broth is concentrated and added to organic grain alcohol. This produces a tincture that can be used as a food supplement at 3-5ml per day, usually taken in a little water or fruit juice.
All our species start life on organic grain spawn, some fruit indoors, and others are inoculated into logs or blocks that fruit outside. Mushrooms are scavengers, accumulating many of the minerals in their growing medium, so it becomes essential for the grower to take the utmost care with growing substrates and environments. We do not use artificial chemicals in any of our growing systems.
If you have access to 60g of fresh organic mushrooms of your choice every day, and if you can afford them, digest them and still have the time and inclination to eat or make a tea from them every day – go ahead and enjoy them. If you do not and you would still like to enjoy the benefits of a daily intake of mushrooms, our extract is intended for you.
Our mushroom extracts are sold as botanical food supplements and as such are subject to European food law. European law describes food supplements as “concentrated sources of nutrients or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect whose purpose is to supplement the normal diet. Food supplements are marketed in “dose” form, as pills, tablets, capsules or liquids in measured doses. Supplements may be used to correct nutritional deficiencies or maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients.” (Europa 2011). Botanicals are described as “whole, fragmented or cut plants, plant parts, algae, fungi and lichens.”
European food legislation has been preparing the ground to support small businesses and has been aware of the value of diversity and customer choice (and the economic value of so many health conscious Europeans) in the food supplement market. At the same time it has become better equipped to encourage good practice, for example setting limits for pesticide residues and contaminants, and giving guidelines for clear labeling etc. For a background to the use of botanicals in Europe and a summary of the relevant legislation see the European Botanicals Forum publication:
We have been frustrated in recent years by attempts to classify our mushrooms as medicinal, which threatened the future of our business. We have always worked within food law and presented our extracts as food supplements, we do not need to make claims, because information on the role of mushrooms (and many other foodstuffs) as dietary supplements is widely available and easy to access.We always felt that our mushroom extracts were simply food supplements, and that is how we will continue to produce and present them. Our view is that our products are too good to lose and we are indebted to the many loyal customers who share this opinion and have supported us in recent years.
Our response has been that we need to do more of what we do best, small scale production of native and exotic species with a history of culinary and botanical use, growing more species out of doors and taking utmost care over growing conditions. In short we are reasserting control over our product.
www.fruiting-bodies.co.uk
