Wild vs Cultivated

The woods are where they belong

When thinking of mushrooms we often picture a log or a tree in the woods. Unfortunately, the way most mushrooms are grown is nothing like that. 

HOW THEY GROW

In the wild, most medicinal mushrooms grow on a variety of live trees and fallen logs.

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Cordyceps is an exception to this rule as it grows on caterpillars.

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CULTIVATION

Nearly all mushroom supplements are now made from cultivated mushrooms.

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Most are grown in greenhouses on either powdered, sterilized sawdust or grain. 

PRESSURE

In the wild mushrooms growing on trees and logs must compete with a variety of microorganisms for food and defend themselves against predators and microorganisms.

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In response to these environmental stressors, they produce higher levels of various compounds, in the same way, that many plants produce higher levels of beneficial compounds in response to pests.

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For example, cabbage will produce higher levels of beneficial polyphenols and vitamin C in response to pests.

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In a comparative study, wild-harvested mushrooms had higher levels of antioxidants than cultivated ones.

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Mushrooms under environmental stress also produce higher levels of an extremely beneficial compound called terpenoids.

VARIETY

Mushrooms growing on a variety of different types of wood will produce different types and amounts of various beneficial compounds.

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Wild harvested mushrooms will be collected from a variety of different trees, ensuring you get the widest variety of beneficial compounds.

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LACK OF STRESS

Cultivated mushrooms are not subjected to the stressors that the wild mushrooms are.

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They produce lower levels of beneficial compounds because of this.

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Wild mushrooms are higher in antioxidants, terpenes, polyphenols, and other beneficial compounds.

SUSTAINABILITY

It is important that wild mushrooms are harvested sustainably in order to avoid pushing the mushrooms to extinction. 

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Knowing exactly who is harvesting them and where they are being harvested is essential to being able to verify the sustainability of a wild mushroom supplement.

FARM-TO-BOTTLE

We are very proud that we can trace all of our mushroom supplements back to their exact source and harvesters.

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Knowing exactly where and how your mushrooms were harvested is an important part of our Farm-To-Bottle project.

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The only way to know for sure that your mushroom supplements were produced ethically and responsibly is to have 100% traceability.