Boost Your Brain With This Mushroom

If you or someone you love has any mild to total cognitive impairments, I have something that could help. Turkey tail mushrooms are known to help conditions like anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, or Alzheimer’s. Here is a recipe I want to share with you for improving your immune system and brain health.

Turkey Tail Mushroom and Brain Health

Turkey tail mushrooms provide a neuroprotective benefit and have antioxidant properties.  These properties might protect the neurons in the brain, aiding in the brain’s health during aging. The polysaccharides contained in turkey-tail mushrooms also have properties that modulate the immune system. In Asia, turkey-tail mushrooms have been used as a successful treatment for fighting cancer.

Sometimes, you might come across what is often called a false turkey tail mushroom.  These mushrooms are similar to the real thing, but the way to differentiate them is that algae grows on them. If you want to learn more about how to correctly identify medicinal mushrooms, plants, berries, and how to spot poisonous lookalikes, here is a useful guide.

Turkey Tail Remedy for Boosting Brain Health

Turkey tail mushrooms help brain health because of their excellent antioxidant properties. If you have any cognitive issues or immune deficiencies, you should incorporate these mushrooms into your diet.

Equipment needed

• mason jar with lid
• pressure canner
• coffee grinder
• dehydrator

You are going to need to turn the fresh foraged and washed Turkey Tail mushrooms into a powder form. I do this process because they are extremely tough and not edible in the raw form.

Dehydrating Your Mushrooms

1. Place your freshly foraged mushrooms into a pressure cooker.
2. Cover the mushrooms with water first.
3.  Let them cook in the cooker for 45 minutes.
4. Scoop the mushrooms out of the cooker, liquid included, and put the mixture into the mason jar.
5. With an emulsion blender, make sure to blend mushrooms and water into a smooth, paste-like concoction.
6. Pour and spread the mushroom mixture out thinly onto trays of a dehydrating oven.
7. Set the oven to 95-100 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. After about six hours the mushrooms should be dried and crispy.
9. Remove the dehydrated mushrooms and break up into smaller sections.
10. Place the broken-up dehydrated mushroom pieces into a coffee grinder (or other grinding device) and grind the mushroom sections into a fine powder.

How to Prepare the Turkey Tail Tincture

1. Pour some Everclear into the large mason jar.
2. Next, add half the mushroom powder and allow it to soak for approximately two weeks, in a cool dark place.
3. Shake the jar to combine everything regularly. Ensure everything is covered with the Everclear liquid.
4. After the tincture has finished the two-week soaking period, strain the liquid. Ensure to retain all the solid clumps of mushroom powder. Set the remaining liquid to the side for later use.
5. Combine the other half of the mushroom powder into the alcohol with the drained clumps of paste.  Soak this mixture in some hot water (approximately 130 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to 12 hours in a crockpot. Set the temperature setting on the crockpot to warm.
6. Next, strain the clumps of powder. Add infused alcohol and water using a ratio of three parts water to 1 part alcohol. (About 20 to 25% alcohol).

Helpful Tips

It is better to use mushrooms that have been dried instead of fresh ones, primarily because it makes it easier to calculate the ratio of alcohol to mushrooms. Also, the alcohol receives more mushroom fiber when they have been dried first. There is a lot more water stored in fresh mushrooms, which increases volume.

You can use a coffee grinder to grind the dried mushrooms and form a powder. Doing this allows the mushrooms to break down more effectively, making a greater difference in the way everything blends together.

There is no reason to do any measuring with this recipe. Simply fill your mason jar up with the ground mushrooms and add enough Everclear to go at least an inch over the top of the mushrooms. You will need to measure the amount of Everclear you strain out- so you can three times that amount of water (the final step) to the mushroom solids.

It can be really tough when attempting the straining step. Typically you will have to try this many times to figure out what works best for you. I have found that cheesecloth (fine) works great. Or you can try a potato ricer or nut-milk bag to squeeze the juices gently from the bag. Having a few fine pieces remaining in the final product is okay, too.

When doing the second extraction you will need to boil some water and pour it over the mushrooms. Allow this to sit for about 12 hours. I find the finished product is always better when left to sit overnight in a crockpot.

You can tell by the amount of cloudy things that are floating in the finished product to gauge the water quality. You won’t notice these cloudy particles until returning the alcohol to the water.

Turkey tail and Reishi mushrooms are simpler to use than Lion’s mane, or other medicinal mushrooms. Those mushrooms tend to get gummy and overheat easily.

Make sure to store your finished tincture in a dark area that is also cool–usually the food pantry is great!

How to use

Dosage is about two dropperfuls daily. Ensure to shake the bottle well prior to use so all those tiny cloudy particles start to float around. If you don’t enjoy the taste of the tincture, you can put it into your morning coffee or a cup of juice.

The alcohol might evaporate because the dropper bottles tend to “breathe”. Thus, it is not recommended to store the bottles for a long time. Instead, keep a supply of tincture in a glass jar and refill the dropper bottles as needed.

Health warning: The use of medicinal mushrooms can have an effect on your blood sugar or blood thinning medicines. Therefore, speak with your medical provider before beginning a mushroom tincture regimen.

Bonus Remedies

If you enjoy making and using the tincture recipe, here is another bonus recipe to get the most of your turkey tail mushrooms.

Turkey Tail & Turmeric Tea

• 1 cup chopped turkey tail mushrooms
• 5 cups water (purified)
• ½ teaspoon ground Turmeric
• ½ teaspoon Honey

1. Put a pan of water on the stove and bring it to a full boil.
2. Cut the turkey tail mushrooms into tiny pieces. Add to the boiling water, let it simmer for about one hour.
3. Strain the turkey tail mushroom combination through your colander.
4. Add the freshly ½ teaspoon of ground turmeric and honey to the strained mushroom mixture and stir it well.

To give your tea a little extra flavor you can add some almond milk, lemon zest, or a drop of ginger or cinnamon.  It can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days and may be served with ice or reheated and served warm.

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