Herbal Ally – Mysterious Mushrooms
As summer nights increase into the fall, the forests of the Catskill mountains in upstate New York fill with magical, mystical, medicinal mushrooms. “Toadstool” is a quaint rap for the countless mushrooms that spring forth between rains, while “fungi” would be the more complex term. Fungi are plants and flowers, but plants with no flowers or perhaps chlorophyll or roots (which creates plants green). Odd shapes (some quite sexually suggestive), the potential to develop (and glow) of the dark, and then psychedelic colors make mushrooms an obvious addition to your witch’s stew. Though you will want some other factors to make mushrooms a steady section of the diet of yours.
It’s true. All edible fungi – which includes those typical white button mushrooms sold in supermarkets – are capable of preventing and reversing cancerous cellular changes. We aren’t exactly sure why. It could be that it’s because fungi look for, concentrate, then share with us the trace minerals we have to create powerful, healthy immune systems. Or perhaps it’s because of their wealth of polysaccharides – interesting complex sugars that appear to be all round health-promoters. It may be because mushrooms are excellent sources of protein as well as B vitamins with no sodium and few calories. Or maybe we could single out anti-bacterial compounds, anti-tumor, and the anti-cancer found in the stalk, caps, gills, and even the underground components (mycelia) of any edible mushroom.
You should definitely cook the mushrooms of yours though; stay away from eating them raw.
Almost everywhere I go in September and August – whether walking barefoot on vibrant green mosses or maybe stepping lightly across the deeply scented fallen pine and hemlock needles; whether climbing rocky outcrops festooned with ferny whiskers or skirting swamps humming with mosquitoes; whether adopting the muddy bank of any meandering stream or balancing on old stone wall space breathing in the fragrance of righteous rot – I am on the lookout for my fungi buddies.
The woods of mine tend to be good to me withchanterelles, beautiful cornucopia shaped mushrooms with a delectable taste. I consider the delicious small black ones – jokingly known as “trumpet of death” as a result of their eerie coloration – along with the quite delicious as well as much greater orange ones. Sometimes we return home naked from the mushrooms of ours walks – in case we find more’ shrooms than we’ve bags for, we’ve to use our pants and shirts as carriers to help haul dinner home.
The bright orange tops as well as sulfur yellow-colored undersides of sulphur shelf mushrooms (Polyporus sulphuroides) are not difficult to spot in the late summer forest. Growing only on recently dead oaks, these overlapping shelves produce a great tasting immune enhancing addition to dinner. I have harvested the “chicken of the woods” in oak forests across the world. In the Czech Republic, I watched an exceptionally large instance as we drove a country lane. Ending, I discovered a part of it’d been harvested. I took only a share, being careful to leave lots for other mushroom lovers who might drop the lane after me.
You don’t have to live in the woods and find your own mushrooms to enjoy the health giving benefits of theirs. You are able to invest in them: fresh or perhaps dried for use in cooking and medicine; and tinctured or powdered also.
Maitake(Grifolia frondosa) is more beneficial compared to other fungi ever tested at inhibiting tumor growth. It’s extremely powerful when taken orally, whether by lab rats or humans dealing with cancer. The fruiting entire body of the maitake looks like the tail feathers of a tiny brown chicken, hence its popular name: “Hen of the Woods”. If you order maitake in pill form, make sure to get the fruiting body, not the mycelium.