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Cooking and Potency
Eating with friends is a pleasant social activity. Preparing a meal around magic mushrooms is a great way to relax, bond and enjoy each other’s company. Many however are predisposed to the thinking that cooking a magic mushroom causes it to lose its potency. Do high temperatures affect the potency or the degradation of the active ingredient, psilocybin? Over the last decade, the debate has raged as to whether the heat required for cooking ruins the effect.
Recently the conclusion is that there have been so many other factors involved, that basing the potency level on heat alone is inconclusive. The age of the mushroom, amount of sleep you’ve had, your hydration level, whether you have a full or empty stomach, or whether you’ve ingested any other substance, all contribute to how much you are affected by the psilocybin. Potency, and what affects it, is very subjective.
Ingredient Combinations
There is also a lack of consensus as to what foods pair well with magic mushrooms. Generally, bolder flavours are better to mask the actual flavour of the mushroom. Psilocybin cuisine is a brave new world and gagging on a nasty shroom is no way to start your journey.
Rehydrating magic mushrooms for cooking is one great way to go and adds to the volume of the mushroom but not the potency. Rehydrating also softens them up for the recipe. If you’re mixing them into a liquid-like a soup or stew, the psychoactive chemicals can spread through the food. The hotter the water the more the psilocybin will get drawn into the water.
If you are preparing a vegetable stock, you might take the stock off of the heat and then drop your mushrooms in and let them sit for 15 minutes or so. It is important to stick to your proper dose so as not to create a dish that puts you way over the top.
Some good ingredients to use with magic mushrooms are:
Chocolate: Probably the oldest combination is chocolate and shrooms. It dates as far back as the Aztecs using cacao in combination with magic mushrooms for ceremonial purposes. It has been thought that cacao enhances the trip. Chocolate recipes are also a great way to portion out your microdose.
Baking: Probably less of an option due to the prolonged heat (depending upon where you stand on that topic). You can try adding dried mushrooms to quiche, biscuits, cookies or brownies. There are also ways to bake less by using ingredients like coconut oil, and cacao.
Risotto: This is a tasty way to serve mushrooms in the main course. Risotto is made with rice that you can combine easily with either rehydrated or fresh mushrooms. For extra good flavour, you could combine magic mushrooms with non-psychoactive varieties.
Drinks: A great way to avoid gagging on your shrooms is to add them to a drink. Tea is a classic choice for consuming magic mushrooms in a recipe. Choose your favourite tea flavour, honey, or citrus are good ways to craft the perfect cup. Ground magic mushrooms can also be added to juices, milkshakes, and smoothies.
Pizza: An easy way to add magic mushrooms to your cooking in to simply dried shrooms over a pizza. The flavour of the pizza is strong enough to mask the flavour of the mushroom and it is an easy recipe.
Salad: Salads are also an easy way to add magic mushrooms to a meal. Use your favourite dressing and other bold flavours like radishes, bell peppers, and a type of cheese.
Lemon Tek: Mixing powdered magic mushrooms with lemon is one of the simplest methods and delivers a fast and intense effect. This simple process involves soaking ground mushrooms in lemon juice for half an hour or so, then knocking back the glass of lemon juice with your mushroom dose like a shot. The citrus draws psilocybin from the mushroom making it more immediately available. It may not be one of the most palatable of recipes, but it works.
Common to all of these recipes is that they are all strong flavours that can hide the, to some people, unpleasant taste of the mushroom.
Using the Right Dose for Your Dish
It is tempting to add more ingredients to a dish. This includes your magic mushrooms, but here is where you need to take special precautions so as not to turn what should be a pleasurable experience into a nightmare. This is where less is more. Your amount is different in each case. What is your toleration? What type of mushroom are you using? What is your intention going in? These are all good questions to answer before you begin cooking.
Dried psychedelic mushrooms or truffles will always be more potent than fresh or hydrated counterparts based on weight and volume. If you are new to this, add a small amount first. You may be surprised. When in doubt, use a magic mushroom dose calculator.
Buy your magic mushrooms in Canada from Zoomies. It is the easiest and safest way to get that key ingredient for that tasty dish.
