BY AMY FRITCH | PHOTOS BY OLAF STARORYPINSKI
MUSHROOMS ARE UNDOUBTEDLY HAVING A MOMENT. If you’ve been paying attention to the food world for the past few years, then you’ve likely seen articles about the health benefits of mushrooms. Maybe you’ve been watching documentaries about the various magical powers of mushrooms. (They help trees communicate, among other things!) Or maybe you’ve tried some of the many mushroom coffee powders that are available, or taken mushroom supplements.
Why are they being offered in all these different preparations? And why not just eat them?
Lucky for us, Pennsylvania is a top mushroom producer, and our region has a few excellent growers devoted to cultivating them. Primordia Mushroom Farm, an impressively hand-built farm, is located up a long, winding driveway in Lenhartsville. In 2012, owners Matt Sicher and Jesse Tobin started out by growing shiitake, lion’s mane, trumpet, and oyster mushrooms.
Pre-pandemic, they supplied high-end restaurants in New York City in addition to a steady stream of farmers markets and restaurants, but now are concentrating on upgrading their grow houses (they added solar panels in 2021) and keeping six local farmers markets supplied with 11 different types of mushrooms.
As long as Primordia has been in business, they have learned that mushrooms definitely elicit questions. But lately, it’s an especially interesting time to work with them. Jesse laughs as she shares the two questions she answers every market day: “Is the lion’s mane gonna fix my brain?” and “Do you have psychedelic mushrooms?” The answer to the latter is a definite “no,” but the lion’s mane question is more of a …“maybe.”
“There’s a lot of science happening right now,” says Jesse, a trained herbalist who’s studied with traditional Pennsylvania Dutch healers. “We don’t have a ton of conclusions yet because it’s pretty new that Western medicine is taking any of this seriously.”
Although mushrooms such as reishi, lion’s mane, and shiitake have been used for thousands of years in traditional medicine in the East, the West has been slower to catch on. In fact, recent scientific studies have shown that mushrooms can provide a dizzying array of benefits, from supporting immune health to lowering blood pressure. In addition, some varieties of mushrooms work as adaptogens, because they can help the body adapt to stress.
Even more jaw-dropping? One study from Penn State concluded that “individuals who ate 18 grams of mushrooms—about ⅛ to ¼ cup—daily had a 45 percent lower risk of cancer compared to those who did not eat mushrooms.”*
It’s pretty easy to incorporate mushrooms into your diet. Jesse has a couple of simple rules: The first (and, according to Jesse, the most important) is that in order to get the most benefits from mushrooms, they should be processed with heat. That means grilling, roasting, pan-frying, or drying them. (This is great news, because I can’t imagine a more delicious meal than a pan of roasted shiitakes!)
The second rule is to be consistent with your mushroom consumption. She says the medicinal properties of mushrooms build up over time, and you have to give your body a chance to process and react to them. It’s not like popping a couple of Advil to knock out a headache. “You’re not going to eat a pound of lion’s mane and suddenly your brain’s going to be awesome, but if you eat a quarter cup of lion’s mane every day, it’s going to have an effect on your nervous system,” Jesse says.
A certified kitchen is in the works at Primordia, which will allow them to offer their mushrooms dried and in preparations like coffees, teas, and tinctures. In the meantime, you can try your hand at drying mushrooms at home. It’s easy, and you benefit from knowing exactly what you’re eating (or, in this case, drinking).
This recipe uses reishi. Why? Jesse says it’s calming and helps to enhance a depleted immune system; plus, it’s believed to lower blood pressure and decrease triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels. Reishi is best consumed in dried form—raw, it tastes like wet cardboard with a bitter aftertaste. (Yes, we tried it.) Adding it to coffee is a good way to get its benefits in a considerably tastier way.
Reishi Coffee Latte
Equipment
- 1 dehydrator (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp dried reishi mushrooms (see drying instructions below)
- ⅓ cup ground coffee
- 2 cup coconut milk (or milk of your choice)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tbsp cardamom (or cinnamon)
- Large pinch of salt
Instructions
- Combine the reishi and coffee grounds in a French press or in the basket of your coffee maker. Brew the coffee as usual.
- Heat the milk and maple syrup on the stovetop over low heat. Whisk in the remaining ingredients until combined. Pour the brewed coffee into 2 large mugs and top each with half of the milk mixture.
