What Are Medicinal Mushrooms? A Beginner's Guide

If you've noticed mushroom capsules, mushroom coffee and mushroom powders turning up everywhere and wondered what the fuss is about, you're in the right place. This guide covers what medicinal mushrooms are, where the tradition comes from, the main types and what each is used for, and a few things worth knowing before you try one.

Quick Answer: What Are Medicinal Mushrooms?

Medicinal mushrooms are a group of fungi with a long history of traditional use for supporting everyday wellbeing, as opposed to mushrooms eaten purely as food. The best known are Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Turkey Tail and Chaga. Today they're mostly taken as concentrated extracts in capsules or powders, and each is associated with a different area of wellbeing, from focus and mental clarity to calm, energy and immune function.

Medicinal, Functional, or Just Mushrooms?

You'll see these mushrooms called "medicinal mushrooms" and "functional mushrooms," usually meaning the same thing. "Medicinal" comes from their history in traditional practices. "Functional" is the more accurate word for how they're used now: as supplements that support normal function in the body, not as medicines. They don't replace medical care, and anyone selling them as if they do is overstepping.

Two other points tend to come up early. First, none of these are psychedelic mushrooms. They have nothing in common with "magic mushrooms" beyond being fungi. Second, several are ordinary food. Shiitake, Maitake and Lion's Mane are all eaten as culinary mushrooms around the world. The difference with a supplement is strength: an extract delivers far more of a mushroom's active compounds than you'd realistically get from eating it.

A Long History, and a Recent Revival

People have been using mushrooms for more than just food for a very long time. Ötzi, the 5,300-year-old "Iceman" found in the Alps, was carrying pieces of birch polypore, a bracket fungus, on a cord. Reishi appears in classical Chinese herbal texts dating back around 2,000 years, where it was prized as the "mushroom of immortality." Chaga has a long history of use in Siberia and northern Europe, often brewed as a tea, and Cordyceps has been valued for centuries in Tibet and China.

The modern interest started with scientific research in the second half of the 20th century, much of it in Japan and China, looking at the compounds these mushrooms contain. More recently, mushroom supplements have moved from specialist health stores into the mainstream, helped along by mushroom coffees and a wider interest in natural ways to support wellbeing. Research is ongoing, and it varies a lot in depth from one mushroom to the next. Lion's Mane and Reishi have been studied far more than most.

The Main Types of Medicinal Mushrooms

Each mushroom has its own traditional reputation and its own set of compounds. Here's a simple overview of the five you'll come across most often.

Lion's Mane

A shaggy white mushroom that looks a little like a frozen waterfall. Lion's Mane is the one most people start with, usually because they're after support for focus and mental clarity during busy days. It's also one of the most researched functional mushrooms.

Reishi

A glossy, reddish-brown bracket mushroom that is too woody and bitter to eat. Reishi is the calming one of the group, traditionally used to support relaxation, balanced mood and restful sleep, and often taken in the evening.

Cordyceps

The original wild Cordyceps grows from caterpillars high on the Tibetan Plateau and is rare and very expensive. Supplements today use Cordyceps militaris, a related species that can be cultivated. It's associated with energy and stamina, and many people take it in the morning or before exercise.

Turkey Tail

Named for its striped, fan-shaped caps, Turkey Tail grows on dead wood all over the world, including here in New Zealand. It's best known for supporting immune function and gut health, and its beta-glucans are the main compounds of interest.

Chaga

Chaga doesn't look much like a mushroom at all. It forms a hard, dark, charcoal-like mass on birch trees in cold northern forests, and is harvested from the wild because it can't be cultivated effectively. It has traditionally been used to support immune function and is a rich source of antioxidants.

You'll also see mushrooms like Maitake and Shiitake in blends. They're familiar culinary mushrooms that bring their own compounds to the mix, and they usually appear alongside the five above rather than on their own.

Fruiting Body and Mycelium: The Two Parts of a Mushroom

The part most people picture as "the mushroom," the cap or bracket above the surface, is called the fruiting body. Underneath, running through the wood or soil it grows in, is a network of fine threads called mycelium. Both contain useful compounds, and in some cases they contain different ones. Lion's Mane is a good example, with one group of compounds found mainly in the fruiting body and another only in the mycelium.

The part that matters to a beginner is how a product is made. Some cheaper supplements grow mycelium on grain, then dry and powder the whole lot together, so the result is mostly grain starch. A fruiting body extract, or a mycelium extract grown without grain, avoids that filler. If a label doesn't say which part of the mushroom was used, or what it was grown on, that's worth asking about.

Why Extraction Matters

Mushroom cell walls are made of chitin, the same tough material found in insect shells, and the human body can't break it down. Eating dried, powdered mushroom means much of what's inside passes straight through. Extraction, using hot water, alcohol or both, is what releases those compounds into a form your body can use.

That's why most quality mushroom supplements are extracts rather than plain powders, and why a good brand will tell you how its products are extracted and show independent testing of what they contain. If you want to go deeper on judging quality, our guide on how to choose a Turkey Tail supplement walks through the checks, and they apply to almost any mushroom.

How People Take Medicinal Mushrooms

Most people take them as capsules, which give a consistent daily amount with nothing to prepare, or as powders mixed into coffee, tea or a smoothie. Some choose a single mushroom for a specific goal, while others prefer a blend that combines several.

The most important habit is consistency. Functional mushrooms work gradually as part of a routine rather than as a one-off, and most people give a new supplement several weeks of daily use before deciding how it's going for them. Our post on how long Lion's Mane takes to work covers what to expect in the first weeks, and most of it holds true for other mushrooms too.

They're generally well tolerated, but as with any supplement, check with a health professional first if you have a health condition, take medication, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Where to Start

If there's one area you'd like support with, start with the mushroom most closely linked to it in the table above and give it a few weeks. If you're not sure, or would rather cover several bases at once, a blend is an easy first step. MyComplete combines six mushrooms in one capsule, and The Starter Set pairs it with Lion's Mane, which is where many of our customers begin.

You can browse our full mushroom supplement range, including capsules and powder blends. Our capsules and powders are independently tested in New Zealand, with the results published on our test reports page.

Disclaimer: It is important to consult a health professional before taking supplements if you have a health condition, are taking medication, are pregnant, or nursing.