Did you know that China grows over 87% of mushrooms worldwide? Many of our customers ask us why we source all our mushrooms from China. The answer is simple. If you have any questions pertaining to where and exactly how to use manufacturer of shiitake mushroom extract powder for cosmetic Ingredients, you can call us at the web page. It is not possible to produce organic mushroom extract powders in North America. While it is possible to grow these mushrooms in North America for food, what you’ll discover is that is that it is too expensive to grow them for supplement use. To demonstrate this, I will use shiitake mushrooms as an example, since they are one of the most inexpensive mushrooms to grow. The 2017/18 USDA averaged price for fresh non-organic shiitake mushrooms was $4.44 per pound. This equates to $9.77 per kilo and for sake of argument I will use the price of $10 per kilo. So a U.S. grower receives $10 per kilo for fresh non-organic shiitake mushrooms. Dried mushrooms are used for supplements so I will need convert the fresh price to a dried price. 10% of the initial weight.

This means that in order for the grower to get the equivalent $10 per kilo fresh they will need to charge $100 per kilo dried. This is where the economics start to break down. To produce a simple extract, the dried mushrooms must be ground into a powder, extracted with hot water and/or alcohol, concentrated and then converted from a liquid into the final extract powder. This can easily add upwards of $50 per kilo in equipment and labor. 150 per kilo for a 1:1 shiitake mushroom extract powder with no additional profit margins added into the price yet. This is already too expensive for the majority of supplement companies. And this is for non-organic and one of the cheapest medicinal mushrooms. Certified organic mushrooms are more expensive and harder to grow mushrooms like reishi can easily double the price. This would not be competitive in the current medicinal mushroom supplement marketplace which is why you cannot find it. A 15:1 reishi dual extract like in our 5 Defenders Organic Mushroom Blend, would be over $3000 per kilo if grown in North America. This is why mushrooms are not grown for supplements in North America. If this is hard to believe, here’s what the USDA says. The U.S. Department of Agriculture releases reports every year on the production and sales of various agricultural crops; mushrooms being one of them.

At some time in the past. Unfortunately most of these have disappeared from our tables in the West except for grains and legumes. Not so on in many Asian countries, including Japan. A number of dried vegetables have survived to modern times and are eaten on a regular basis. Most of these aren’t that readily available outside of Japan, but a few are. Of these, kiriboshi daikon (dried shredded daikon radish) and hoshi shiitake (dried shiitake mushrooms) are probably the most popular, and are usually on the shelves of Japanese grocery stores. Both are very high in fiber and low in calories, and make great additions to various dishes. Dried shiitake mushrooms are a real powerhouse of flavor. When mushrooms are dried, the flavor gets concentrated and the texture changes – they’re not an inferior version of the fresh kind, just different. Some people prefer dried shiitake to the fresh kind for cooking.

They have about 3.5 grams of fiber per 100 grams, plus iron, potassium and vitamins B1 and B2. 100 grams contains about 200 calories, but that’s about 20 mushrooms! Shiitake can take a rather long time to reconstitute. What I do is to put a few in a jar or a plastic container with lid, fill it up with water, and put it in the refrigerator for later use. Soaked mushrooms stored like this can be used for a few days. The soaking liquid can be used as a stock in soups and so on. To use the shiitake, squeeze well and cut off the hard stem. The stems can be put back in the soaking liquid to extract more flavor out of them. The flavor of dried shiitake can vary a lot, so try to find a good brand and stick to it. Good dried shiitake should be very fragrant when you open the bag.