How do I preserve my Magic Mushrooms?

Author: Elena Experience expert (psychedelics and psychoactive & medicinal plants), blogger, passion for healthy food

Being self-sufficient gives a feeling of freedom. It may have something to do with the realization that you don't have to be completely dependent on others, that you don't have to spend all your earned money on things that you might as well create yourself! And above all, it is good for your self-confidence.

It is very inspiring for me to look at people who use their creativity and show that it doesn't have to be that difficult at all, that you can realize a lot of beautiful things in just a few simple steps. Okay, sometimes it is useful if you already have some experience, or if you have some aptitude for one or the other. But most of it you can just learn and remember: you also learn from your mistakes.

Right now I'm learning to make a lot of things myself. From sauerkraut, to ginger ale, to sourdough bread. At the moment I live in a place where people find it important to keep their independence as much as possible. They like the fact that they don't have to go to the store for everything, because they know you don't have to buy everything. It will not be a surprise that they have a huge vegetable garden, with an abundance of fruit and vegetables. Yes, I've learned to make sauerkraut here and immediately on a large scale. I think we can all eat from it until next year. Fortunately, I love it and it's a good source of vitamin C. It's a product that humans have started to use as a way to preserve cabbage in winter and also to generate interesting nutrients. Keeping food for a long time for example by fermentation, with salt or sugar, is a very interesting process for me. Drying products is also a fun and educational activity. Nowadays it's quite normal to buy a product that you can really keep for an eternity in a special packaging. These preservatives have the advantage that your goods are much less likely to spoil. On the other hand, they can have a negative impact on your health. Take wine, for example. The chance that the bottle says that it contains 'sulphite' (sulfur dioxide) is very high. This ingredient ensures that the wine can be stored much longer and that the yeasts and bacteria present are no longer active. Sulphite is a toxic substance, causing headaches. Making wine without adding sulphite is almost impossible. The product becomes a lot more expensive and more difficult to store. I think it's a pity that in the food industry, among others, people are still staring blindly at economic profit, as a result of which so many beautiful products are spoiled with unhealthy additives. How this could be otherwise... there are certainly solutions. It would be nice if manufacturers and companies shift their focus to more sustainable, 'real' and healthy products, from which the consumer benefits much more. At the same time the consumer can take more control and make conscious choices. 

Are you a conscious psychonaut?

Psychedelics show you things you were previously blind to. By connecting more with yourself and your surroundings, you are more sensitive and everything comes deep inside you. A paddo trip has made me very aware of the fact that ‘I am what I eat'. When I treat my body like a garbage can and throw all kinds of garbage inside, I turn into, well, a garbage can. During my trip, eating unprocessed food, like a handful of raspberries picked from the garden, was a true taste sensation. Even drinking a glass of tap water was quite an event. Water that has been circulating on this globe since the beginning of time which I absorbed again. I became even more aware of my own sensitivity. I think that since then I have started to pay more attention to what I eat, just because I know that this really gives my body and my state of mind what they need and makes me feel much better. And, as I said before, it is just super fun to do more yourself, instead of buying bite-sized, fake chunks! In this blog I'm going to focus on the grateful art of growing magic mushrooms. But how do you keep them?

Magic Mushrooms: how to preserve?

Clients of Sirius are sometimes amazed by the enormous harvests that one mushroom grow kit can yield. Under the right conditions, with enough heat, moisture and fresh air, psilocybe mushrooms can grow like crazy! Once you've harvested your mushrooms, you can only keep them in the refrigerator for a few weeks. A refrigerator is humid, so it's a good idea to put fresh mushrooms on (unbleached) kitchen roll if you keep them in the refrigerator. The paper absorbs an excess of water, so they stay good a bit longer. Because you can't keep them fresh for long, you'll have to use a technique to make them last longer. One technique that is sometimes used is adding a dessicant. A dessicant absorbs water from the air. When you open a jar, you sometimes find one of those little bags that says in large letters: do not eat! They are therefore quite poisonous. I'm not a fan of dessicants myself, for the reason that they are poisonous.

Drying mushrooms with a dehydrator

A food dryer, or dehydrator: what an invention! A simple way of drying for example fruits, but also vegetables and mushrooms. If, like me, you're a big fan of dried fruit (as a sweet tooth they're the ideal healthy alternatives to sweets - which generally contain everything your body doesn't like at all) I'd definitely recommend it. There are crates full of apples in the basement, some of which will turn into a long lasting, healthy snack. Mushrooms can also be dried in a food dryer. It's important that it dries at a low temperature otherwise you might destroy the active ingredients, including psilocybin. And that would be a shame! An extra advantage of a dehydrator is that the drying process is faster than when you air dry them. In this way, the active ingredients are retained even better. A proper food dehydrator is expensive. I don't have one at the moment. For drying mushrooms I use a different method.

Magic Mushroom air drying

The easiest way to dry magic mushrooms is to simply place them on (unbleached) kitchen roll in a dry room. Make sure they don't get direct sunlight, this can speed up the decomposition process. After a few days your mushrooms will be dry. 

Keep Magic Mushrooms in glass jars

Plastic lets in fresh air faster. To store your dried material you want the environment to be airtight. Air accelerates the decomposition process. Anyway, glass jars are finer to store food and wares than plastic. Also for cannabis you should always use glass! These glass jars for dried cannabis are ideal. Store the jars in a dark, cool and dry place, for example in a cupboard in the attic. 

Tip: Do not throw empty jars of jam or honey away! You can reuse them for storing your own creations. It looks nice too. 

Freezing Magic Mushrooms

Even in an airtight glass jar there is a chance that your mushrooms will lose their strength over time. The way to store them the longest is by freezing dried mushrooms. For this they need to be 'crisp dry'. You put them in an airtight package, for example a zip bag, and put it in the freezer. In this way you can actually keep them forever. 

Warning: never freeze fresh mushrooms! This will cause them to lose their structure, causing the active substances to break down. You should always completely dry them first. 

Vacuum packaging of magic mushrooms and magic truffles

A technique that is also used to preserve (fresh) magic mushrooms and magic truffles is by vacuum packaging them. I'm not a fan of this either. The truffles of Sirius are always freshly packed and stay in the refrigerator for a very long time. Contrary to vacuum packed truffles, which spoil easily after opening the packaging.

Elena Experience expert (psychedelics and psychoactive & medicinal plants), blogger, passion for healthy food

Elena studies Organic and Biodynamic agriculture because, besides psychedelics and psychoactive & medicinal plants, she also has a passion for healthy food. Learning about the endocannabinoid system, different cannabinoids and terpenes is super interesting.

More about Elena