Mushroom bonsai + the "right to try" debate 🍄

Hey there, shroomers 🍄

Happy Friday! Here’s what we found while foraging ‘round the mushroom world this week…

Eye candy 👀

This week’s obsession: mushroom bonsai!

@kinocorium on Instagram has a knack for combining tiny plants and mushrooms into unique mini-worlds with impeccable attention to detail.

Psychedelic spotlight 💡

The right to try ⚖️ The U.S. DEA claims that a law allowing patients with terminal illnesses to try investigative medications does not overrule the Controlled Substances Act regarding psilocybin.

Psychedelics for chronic pain 🩺 The National Institutes of Health will put $8.4 million toward researching psilocybin, DMT, LSD, and mescaline to treat chronic pain in older adults.

Jack Frost nipping at your shrooms ❄️White fruits, wavy caps, blue gills, and a spore print like fresh snow … check out these Jack Frost mushrooms, an albino cross between True Albino Teachers and Albino Penis Envy varieties of Psilocybe cubensis.

Growing gourmet 🍽

From stems to steaks 🥩 The UK’s largest produce provider for pubs and high street restaurants, Fresh Direct, is launching a mushroom-based meat alternative. Using mushroom stems that would otherwise be thrown away, the move is expected to eliminate up to 80 metric tons of food waste per year.

Efficient water filtration 🌊 White button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) substrate waste can help filter out organic micropollutants in drinking water sources.

Mushroom drinks are officially mainstream 🍸 About time! When the financial press starts talking up mushroom-based cocktails, you know the hype train is rolling.

Research roundup 🔬

Shout-out to Willard 🐀 Psilocybin restrains activity-based anorexia and prevents severe weight loss in rats by enhancing cognitive flexibility.

Beautiful friendship 💮 Orchids use mycorrhizal networks to get nutrients and germinate — and certain fungi strains can help conserve endangered orchids.

Babe, wake up, new superfood just dropped 🎺 A comprehensive study from West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Poland, says Black Trumpet mushrooms (Craterellus cornucopioides) are filled with nutrients and show potential immuno-stimulating, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antihyperglycemic effects.

shroomer’s local focus 🌎

A look at Canada’s psilocybin therapy rollout 🍁Alberta was the first Canadian province to allow psychedelic-assisted therapy, but the high cost has put off about 70% of would-be participants. Local health insurers are looking to ease that cost burden.

Kentucky shroomers, let’s go foraging! 🪕 The Bluegrass Mycological Society is hosting a free mushroom hiking expedition in Sandy Hook on May 4. (Event details here!) I love this quote from Fenner Morse, the society’s Director of Microscopy and DNA sequencing: “We’re all about biodiversity. And the more people that you can get out searching at once the more likely that you’re going to find more fungal species.” 

Plant and mushroom foraging class in Fairfield, CT 👩‍🏫 On May 11, Chef Vinny Crotta and Connecticut Foraging Club Founder Amy Demers will host a class on edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms, followed by a walk to practice your mushroom and plant identification skills in the field!