Ingredients
Medicinal Mushrooms
Our extracts are produced to the best standards available today, in order to harness the highest possible concentration of the full spectrum of therapeutic compounds present in each mushroom, in line with current research. Optimal methods of cultivation and extraction are observed for each individual species in order to ensure the effectiveness of the final product. Our extracts are completely free of binders, bulking and anti-caking agents.
One of our big motivations for starting Myco was the scarcity of good quality mushroom products currently available on the market and the lack of transparency from brands’ about the standards they follow.
A lot of mushroom products currently on the market are not extracts but ground fruiting bodies or mycelia on grain, which means they do not have a high bioavailability for optimal absorbance and have lower concentrations of therapeutic compounds than needed to reflect the potential these mushrooms have been showing in scientific studies. Unextracted mushroom products are not absorbable by our gut because we lack enzymes to break down the longer polysaccharide chains called chitin that they are locked in.
Unfortunately most medicinal mushroom mycelia out there are grown on grain, which makes it impossible to separate them from the growing medium. The result is grain-rich starchy products that actually contain low levels of active ingredients. So when sellers advertise the presence of polysaccharides, it is important that they specify that those are beta-glucans, otherwise the customers are simply buying grain starch under a fancy name. Both our cordyceps and lion’s mane mycelia are grown in vegan liquid fermented cultures that are completely drained off, leaving only the mycelia to be extracted.
The active compounds, specific to each mushroom species and part being used, define the chosen extraction method. Some constituents are water soluble, whilst others are not, and require an alcohol extraction. Both extracts then go through a process of distillation and precipitation, which is repeated multiple times. The resulting liquid is then spray dried, leaving a powder that is pure mushroom and of the highest potency and broadest achievable spectrum.
Finally, all our extracts are third-party tested for contaminants and for the concentration levels of relevant active compounds, the certifications of which all suppliers should be ready to provide upon request.
Cacao
We use ceremonial cacao, which comes from ancient varieties that are grown in agroforestry by indigenous cacao growing communities. It is harvested and minimally processed in traditional ways. This means that it retains its full butter content, essential to some of cacao’s feel-good chemicals. It is not alkalised to disperse in liquid, as cocoa powder is.
So, Myco is not quite an instant drink: it is something more.
We hope its preparation time both fits around modern routines and offers the opportunity to connect to the ingredients, focus on an intention for yourself and enjoy a nourishing moment of contemplation.
Botanicals
We use organic and locally grown ingredients wherever possible and have tested a number of suppliers for each herb to find the best ones.
Our nettle seeds, hawthorn flowers and linden flowers are respectfully wildcrafted by ourselves with prayers. To harvest and dry flowers and seeds is very laborious and consequently impossible to buy in the quality standards that we expect. Most store bought flowers come with big amounts of leaves and twigs because they are not usually picked by hand. When harvested in big quantities, delicate flowers get damaged in transportation. Processing big piles of them demands a longer drying time and higher temperatures that further damage precious constituents of these plants.
Our recipes prioritise medicinal herbs that are local to us, so that our ingredients are accessible for you to connect with directly should you wish to, because we believe that can deepen the experience of taking Myco blends. These plants are integral to the landscape and microbiome we cohabit with and have been supporting the ancestors of these lands for millennia. For many they carry childhood memories that may lay dormant but remain part of our internal affective landscape, waiting to be awakened.
As Myco wants to promote a move away from exclusively focusing on isolated chemical constituents and their pharmacological actions towards integrating plant and fungi intelligence into our approach to healing, we believe that making sure that they are physically accessible gives the opportunity to connect with them on a personal level as beings with consciousness.
On sweeteners
We choose not to sweeten with sugar to avoid offsetting the benefits of our products in lowering cortisol levels (since sugar raises it, alongside other undesirable disruptions it can cause in the body). After extensive research, we chose palmyra (Borassus flabellifer) fruit nectar, an Ayurvedic ingredient with a low glycemic index (which means it does not spike blood sugar levels) which has been used for millennia for its high iron and B vitamins content. The added sweetness brings out the flavours of the herbs and smoothes the mushroom taste, but we deliberately kept it to a minimum not to overpower the natural bitters of the ingredients, since those have an important role in triggering valuable responses in the body. We believe that being able to taste these ingredients is part of the process of connecting with them, and there is no need to mask them.