One of the connundrums with herbs and mushroom products is that data is lacking on specific dosage for benefits per illness and patient's weight etc. That has always bugged me. I have studied TCM and have a few friends who are practioners and I always thought that textbook's dosage recommendations were lacking scientific scrutiny and were very, very gray. Often enough the author espouses that such and such an herb at 2 gr per day was one size fits all for any weight person or any illness. Lets hope someone takes this up and improves on it! Many a good PhD dissertations await!
I can not guess how much Reishi is the right amount, wish I could. What are you taking it for if you don't mind saying, otherwise PM if you want.
I think at the very cheap price of $21 per pound for organic Reishi though, when many sell the same for $50 or so, it is a great deal. Probably if you dig deaper other companies match that price but after an hour of searching I found them cheapest. A pound is a hell of a lot, should last you ages.
Some mushrooms need more than the gut to break down their tough cell walls, so hence they are extracted with alcohol or hot water or both. I should add that at times with plants, neither alco nor water dissolves the actives, so sometimes other solvents are used.
I think powdered Chaga for one, is not easily broken down by the gut so needs to be made into a tea with hot water and alcohol, not sure about reishi.
A leading brand in Japan claims their organic Reishi is 35% beta d glucans, but it costs $500 for a pound! Yikes! Might help with power plant radiation .....mutter, mutter, mutter.......... Go radioactive Kitty chan!
A mycologist friend chews a bit of dried Reishi every morning after coffee, leaves it as a quid in his mouth for 20 minutes while sucking on the bitter mass, letting some of it absorb sublingually. I assume that method is a better method than just swallowing the powder, but who knows?
I'd say get some whole Reishi, powder it in a blender, save half to eat as powder via teaspoon, and tincture the other half with alc/water and take that too.
Locally, I can buy "Everclear," it is not available everywhere though, but over 95% alcohol so I use that for tinctures. My friend in Toronto had to get an alcohol license to make tinctures for his TCM , acupuncture therapy business since Everclear is not sold in Canada legally and many US states can not sell it. I have also seen nearly equal % Polish Vodka abroad in Japan that I used there for extracts. It barely had any potato left in it after distilling! If you can't find Everclear find the highest per cent alcohol vodka in a major liquor store. 151 Rum is 75% which will work in many cases.
If you despise alcohol traces in your tincture, place the alcohol tea in an wide pan, slowly dry the alcohol tea down until it is evaporated, you can use a heater in the room or place the pan on super low on the stove until dry or near dry. Afterward combine your secondary water extract part, stir and put in small tincture bottles. Personally I do not find tiny amounts of alcohol to be a problem and so i leave some alc in there, alc is good in a tincture as a preservative.
Edited by Aka Poe, 12 November 2015 - 01:36 AM.