Reishi Mushroom - Foraging West Coast Reishi (Ganoderma oregonense) American Lingzhi

In this episode, we'll dive deep into reishi mushroom benefits! We'll learn how to successfully identify and find reishi mushrooms in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, discuss a bit about the history of lingzhi, and explore other aspects of Ganoderma species and ethnomycology. Along the way, we'll make reishi mushroom tea and even discuss how to cook up fresh young specimens of Ganoderma oregonense. This is our West Coast Reishi species (also known as the Western Varnished Conk or American Lingzhi). For those of you living in the Eastern US, you have a strikingly similar species that grows exclusively on Hemlock, Ganoderma tsugae, known as the Hemlock Varnish Conk.

To learn more about foraging and working with reishi and other wild medicinal mushrooms, I highly recommend that you check out this book:

Christopher Hobbs's Medicinal Mushrooms: https://amzn.to/3WrX0Pg
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Here's a quick rundown of what you can expect to see:

00:00 Intro w/ Initial Reishi ID
02:25 Prominent role of Ganoderma Mushrooms in Traditional Chinese Medicine - Lingzhi
03:05 Tree Associations of West Coast Reishi (Ganoderma oregonense) and the similar Hemlock Varnish Shelf (Ganoderma tsugae)
03:32 West Coast Reishi vs Red Belted Conk (Fomitopsis mounceae)
06:19 Brown Rot Decayers vs White Rot Decayers
06:58 Close-up of fresh harvested reishi, discussion of 17 lb reishi, and a note on the high beta-glucan content of Reishi-like mushrooms
09:30 Spore production on a single reishi over the course of 6 weeks
11:18 Processing your reishi
11:42 Sun Dry your mushrooms to get Vitamin D2!
12:05 Hot Water Extracts, Decoctions, Reishi Tea, & Mushroom Powders
13:44 Health benefits attributed to Reishi Mushrooms
16:45 How I prepare and consume fresh Reishi - meet the RLT Sandwich!

Have you gotten a chance to work with or forage this incredible wild medicinal mushroom? Or perhaps a different reishi-like mushroom near you? Let me know in the comments!

This is my absolute favorite mushroom! It holds a special place in my daily routine, anchors my relationship with the fungal world, and ... well ... it's one of those things that makes the forest downright magical!

Hope you enjoyed this episode - until next time, Happy Trails!

*The primary mushroom featured in this video was discovered and recorded on July 24, 2024 in Western Washington