Medicinal Mushrooms: A Practical Guide to Healing Mushrooms (Urban Homesteading)

As part of trying to reduce my meat intake, I have discovered the versatility of mushrooms and tend to regularly cook with mushrooms. I have not been brave enough to go and forage for mushrooms myself, but have several friends who have a regular habit of finding mushrooms in the woods and one friend even grows her own mushrooms. So this book really peaked my interest since I was not familiar with the medicine benefits of mushrooms. The author covers all types of mushrooms, including mushrooms that are sold in stores, so you do not have to go out and forage for mushrooms. In addition, the author provides a thorough introduction to mushrooms (brought back some memories from botany lessons a long time ago) as well as a brief introduction to the use of mushrooms as medicine. The author, in terms of medicinal use of mushrooms, has a strong focus on cancer treatments, in part because cancer treatments are often prohibitively expensive. I do not recommend that people currently receiving chemotherapy covered by insurance simply drop that treatment and seek cures through eating mushrooms, but I do suggest that using the mushrooms described in this book can be used after a conversation with the physician. Especially in non-western cultures alternative treatments seem to be gaining more traction and compared to the US, Europe also seems to be more open to alternative medicines. So I am certainly willing to entertain using mushrooms similar to other natural remedies to support the immune system and as a supportive tool in the fight against certain diseases. I am just not willing to make that switch nor recommend anyone make that switch without having a discussion with the responsible physician overseeing the current treatment. That being said, besides cancer, other diseases or ailments commonly seen in the book include high blood pressure or antimicrobial functions and both of those certainly are known to have supportive functions in the food people eat. So if you are struggling with blood pressure or have respiratory ailments, changes in diet can boost the immune response and often support the impact of medication you are taking. Again, talking with your physician before focusing on mushrooms or any other nutritional supplement or diet change is recommended. But I can certainly attest to the impact of nutrition on blood pressure or the procession of bronchitis. Overall, the book is well written and has a huge amount of detail included. To me, it was really eye opening since I have so far never heard of mushrooms being used for medicinal purposes. Unlike fruit and vegetables, mushrooms seem to often be an afterthought, but based on this book - should no longer be. If you are curious about alternative treatments or supportive treatments in terms of adjusting your nutrition to help you get better, this is certainly a book I can recommend. I received a free copy of the book for review purposes.

This book gives a lot of detail about each individual mushroom and explains the different parts of a mushroom and how it reproduces. It explains various types of medicinal mushrooms, how different parts of the mushroom are used to make medicine and ways to use them (i.e. tinctures, extracts, tea, powders and compounds). It goes into detail noting how different parts of the mushroom can contain different medicinal properties (i.e. increase antioxidants, support immune health, decrease inflammation, enhance cognitive function). There is also information about the nutritional value of mushrooms and active constituents. The book shows detailed charts with various beneficial information about mushrooms and plenty of images to go along with the topic. It also lists the names of medicinal mushrooms and the uses to treat specific illnesses, diseases and health related issues. Then it is broken down a lot more by organizing medicinal mushrooms by ailment. Going in a little more depth, the author lists ways to prepare your medicine and dosages by ailment. I feel that this book has a lot of very useful information about medicinal mushrooms. It is informative, well documented and easy to follow. I learned a lot about mushrooms that I did not know. I will take that knowledge and use it in my own medicinal practice. If you are interested in learning about medicinal mushrooms and how you can benefit from them, I highly recommend getting this book. It is a wonderful book and definitely worth the read!

My wife and I went vegan 8 years ago, and because of that change we have tried vegetables and mushrooms that we hadn’t tried before. To facilitate our awareness of the different varieties of mushrooms, we signed up for a local mushroom CSA which gave us access to mushrooms that aren’t usually available in grocery stores. My wife and I love mushrooms and it was great to read this book and learn about the many medicinal benefits of mushrooms. This book is well written and has all of the references if a person is interested in going deeper into the details. There are numerous pictures of the mushrooms so that you know what they look like. I liked the way that the information was assembled and how clear it was to identify mushrooms that may benefit specific ailments. I bought Richard Bray’s book on Greenhouse Gardening and I’m currently growing my first crops in the greenhouse. Richard also has a book on Mushroom Cultivation which my wife is excited about – she would love for me to grow my own mushrooms. I believe that mushrooms, and fruits and vegetables have beneficial properties, so this book was very beneficial to me in helping me understand the benefits of different kinds of mushrooms. If you are interested in mushrooms for medicinal use, I believe this book would benefit you. As I had previously purchased the Greenhouse Gardening book, I was provided a free copy of this book for an honest review.

The Book is an easy reach perfect for couch surfing. Not too dense but concise. The book details the power of mushrooms, with early medicinal uses, history, benefits, healing properties, how they are organized, how to prepare mushrooms for eating and sourcing mushrooms. it has good photos and clear diagrams to explain concepts and how the mushrooms look like. Medicinal Mushrooms book is an easy reading guide to the amazing mushrooms and how they can be medicinal.

I had grown up with the idea that wild mushrooms are dangerous, and can easily be confused with ones that look similar but are deadly, but I'm always up to learning about alternative and traditional treatments, instead of going straight to modern pills. The book is short and succinct, well organized and written in a tone of "relatable objectivity," if you will. The reader is neither patronized nor overwhelmed by jargon. Additionally, it has been well-proofed (which I appreciated, as quite a lot of print is full of typos and misspellings, and it drives me crazy). The book has sections: first all the mushrooms are discussed by scientific name, with a photo or diagram with common ailments they treat, and often which part of the mushroom is used. For each entry it tells briefly where they can be found, how they grow, and what science has so far discovered about their healing properties, such as a chemical found in them that affects the blood, to relieve or cure the ailment. They are also discussed by ailment, so if you want to know quickly look up how to treat anxiety, or cancer, you can find all the mushrooms used for those, along with recommended dosage for dry and fresh. The third section discusses preparation of several types, along with helpful diagrams. This book does NOT discuss any comparisons to these edible mushrooms' deadly cousins, but focuses strictly on the edible and medicinal ones. Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of the book by the author, but this has no bearing on my review.

The next step in emergency preparedness is knowing how to treat illness when you don't have access to modern medicine, especially if you suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, or cancer. Beyond storing fish antibiotics or medicinal herbs, fungii are often widely available in nature and have been used safely in the East for thousands of years. "Medicinal Mushrooms" is arranged logically, with a brief explanation of why use mushrooms, an overview of types of mushrooms, and then the "meat" of the book, a list of ailments and recommended mushrooms. Turkey-tail mushrooms are abundant where I live. I may give them a try.... This is NOT a field guide ... do not go into the woods and pick pretty mushrooms ... more mushrooms are poisonous than are edible, and some are outright deadly!!! Buy mushrooms from a reputable source, or find somebody in your area who knows how to forage and bribe them to teach you the difference. Also, buy a good pictoral field guide and start identifying what might be readily available where you live in case you ever need to fall back upon mother nature's medicine cabinet (but don't EAT anything until you find that experienced forager). There are many "bad" look-alike mushrooms so you have to be careful!

When I picked up this book to read, I knew absolutely nothing about mushrooms except that I enjoyed eating them occasionally. I have to confess, what I found in this book blew me away! I had no idea how beneficial mushrooms could be. So I read and I learned about the different varieties, complete with pictures and where they grow. The author has also included detailed information, easily found in the book, either by type of mushroom or by the ailment, all the amazing medicinal properties of these gems. Then he goes on to show the reader how to actually make the tinctures and teas for each type of mushroom, complete with dosage information. All of this is illustrated, step-by-step. My son has recently started growing micro greens and is thinking of starting a new business and when I began reading this book, I immediately thought of him and directed him here to Amazon to get a copy. I have always been interested in food as medicine and this book has opened new vistas for me! The whole idea of using food to supplement our healing processes is mind opening! As a 78 year old senior, I am definitely looking at mushrooms to help with inflammation and to ward of potential dementia!

I appreciated the in depth information presented along with pictures and drawing of the various mushrooms. I have certainly not been familiar with many of these, but there were several that I was aware of and use. I did find a few misspellings in the book. And the reference numbers are often all grouped together as one number so it is difficult to find the actual number. However, I do appreciate that fact that there are references to support the information posted in the book. These errors should be corrected. Being someone who is extremely interested in complementary alternative medicine and TCM, I enjoy reading about alternative treatment in disease and how to utilize more natural methods. One of the tinctures that is referenced was to use at least 80 proof alcohol in tincture. I actually prefer to use at least 100 proof in making my tinctures. It just depends upon the material I am using. But I never go with less than 80 proof. I enjoying seeing the mushrooms listed by name, and by disease that they could help as well as how to use them and recommendations for dosages. I find this a good reference book to have. I was very glad that the author mentioned not to forage unless you are certain of what you are gathering. I still take my books with me when I forage because you just never know with the similarities of fungi.