The largest *real world* mushroom study ever 🌎

Hi there 🍄 

This week’s highlights include a guide to hen of the woods mushrooms and a breathtaking book of mushroom photography.

Results from the biggest “real world” shroom study ever

The YouTube that started it all. In 2020, Unlimited Sciences asked adults like you and me to enroll in a study about psilocybin use because the researchers wanted to analyze the “real world” implications, meaning not in a therapist’s office.

The study followed 2,800+ participants (of the 8,000+ people who answered!) for up to three months after their mushroom trip. Participants, on average, took about 3.1 grams, and now, we have some answers.

“Results from this study, the largest prospective survey of naturalistic psilocybin use to date, support the potential for psilocybin to produce lasting improvements in mental health symptoms and general wellbeing,” the researchers wrote in Frontiers in Psychiatry.

• 94% found the experience beneficial ☀️

• 50% improved their relationship with others following the experience 🫂 

• 42% improved their physical routines in relation to alcohol, diet, or exercise 👟 

Studies that look into everyday use are more important now than ever as the drug war still rages on while psychedelics arrive at the doors of mainstream capitalism. Read more about the results.

A fall foraging favorite

Currently in the running for the most delicious mushroom. Hen of the woods mushrooms, also known as maitake, start appearing in late summer and early autumn. These mushrooms are one of the few mushrooms foragers can find east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S., and few things in life are better than those crispy bits fresh off the campfire, thanks to the unfurling fan shape.

You can’t go wrong with these three basic steps.

🍳 Maitake on the stove

1. Melt unsalted butter in a saucepan on medium heat.

2. Add garlic, salt, and pepper. Add anything else here!

3. Add fresh maitake mushrooms and cook until the edges are crisp to your liking, usually around 6 or 7 minutes.

🔥 Maitake on the grill

1. Coat maitake generously in olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and anything else.

2. Grill over really low or indirect heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Continue to cook at 1-minute intervals to your liking.

💨 Maitake in the air fryer 

1. Coat maitake in olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and anything else.

2. Cook maitake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes

3. Continue to cook at 1-minute intervals to your liking, shaking in between to release steam.

Read more about hen of the woods mushrooms.

Around the web

• 🍼 Tracey Tee of Moms on Mushrooms appeared in a Nightline segment, sharing her personal story of microdosing and how it led to the growing community of MOMs.

• 🌀 The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a new podcast, and the first episode on psychedelics was an honest, optimistic take on the vast healing potential of MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy.

• 📸 Broccoli released a stunning 208-page book of fungi wonder. Spores: Magical Mushroom Photography has work from over 90 artists that capture new dimensions of the magic of mushrooms, from the forest floor to the fluorescent ascent outward.