Turkey Tails and other shroom questions

[nwnettlegal]

Hi all, I found some turkey tails and I'm wondering about the best way to use them. I read about using them in soups, but can you just make a tea out of them? Some of the ones I found looked a bit old and starting to or have spored, are these still good to use? Also was wondering if there is a list of which ones (mushrooms)you don't extract in alcohol and which you do? Would be interested in hearing from others as to which mushrooms they use, how they use them and what they are using them for. I put some angel wings in alcohol but now I'm wondering if this was a wise choice? It's fall mushroom picking time here in the PNW and finding all sorts of them, have joined a club but they just collect for eatig. In fact went to their display and they had turkey tails listed in the poisonous group. i questioned this but was still told it was poisonous. So will be glad to get some information from all the wise women here.
Blessings and thank you in advance,
NWNG

[Judy L]

This is a subject I have just begun to study.

Turkey Tails-Trametes versicolor- can be noshed on while hiking as a survival food. I have done it. They are also known to have anti-viral properties, immune enhancing, anti-tumor and lowers cholesterol. They can be tinctured.

Not familiar w/ Angel Wings.

A great little book is MYCOMEDCINIALS by Paul Stamets. The book reviews the use of some of the major shrooms.

Another resource.. there is a local herbalist (No. Ca) who works w/ mushrooms. She also teaches classes on use and preparation locally and up in the northwest. If you would like contact info let me know.

[nwnettlegal]

Hi Judy thanks for the reply. Yes I would like the contact info. in hopes that I could connect up with a class that she might give in this area. Also interesting that you say that the turkey tails can be tinctured as all i have read said to use in water extraction. Have you used them this way and for what? Angel wings are a small mushroom that is white and similar in looks to a small oyster mushroom. Wasn't sure why I wanted to tincture them but just found myself doing it without much question, then later learned that there where some mushrooms that it wasn't good to use with alcohol. So now I'm questioning if I should have or not. As this is a great place to find mushrooms I'm interested in finding out about as many as i can and what to use them for.
thanks for all your information.
blessings
NWNG

[Judy L]

Her name is Terri Jensen. The name of her business is The Herbal Apothecary. email is ... herbapo@monitor.net Phone number is 707.824.0479. She also has a line of mushroom extracts that she makes herself. They are quite good.

I have never tinctured a mushroom myself. Terri would be a great first hand resource to ask tho.

I am currently experimenting w/ a tri-shroom tincture combo. It contains reishi, shitake, mitake and turkey tails. I am using it for fatigue/adrenal exhaustion.

I generally take my medicine as food. Meaning I eat mushrooms in many forms pretty regularly. I am doing the tincture thing as a friend of mine had great success taking shrooms for adrenal support.

I too look forward to more shroom sharing.

[jim mcdonald]

Turkey tails are in no way poisonous. Here's some useful ID info:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/trametes_versicolor.html

(note the "Totally True Turkey Tail Test")

Most mushroom "tinctures" are actually concentrated decoctions with enough alcohol added to preserve them (usually 25-30%). This is, more or less, because most mushrooms get a lot of their virtues from polysaccharides, which are poorly soluable in alcohol. Now, this is not to say that tinctures don't work, or aren't any good, but you can get a broader spectrum of the mushrooms virtues by making a concentrated tincture (if possible with grain alcohol), then after straining your tincture making a decoction from the marc and combining the two. Here's a complicated (well, not really but it reads that way - I'm bad at math) how to:

http://www.rrreading.com/files/How%20to ... xtract.pdf

Michael Moore, in one of his books (desert & canyon west?) describes this process in his entry on Echinacea.

You could just make a decoction and a tincture an combine them, too, being sure to use a little bit more of the tincture to bring the alcohol concentration of the finished product to around 30% so it doesn't spoil.

But soup - that's a great way to use them; add them when making the broth, the strain them out. They're a bit tough to leave in the finial soup. The combination of water an oils in the broth will giove a more potent extract than water alone will. Plus, you can throw in astragalus and shiitakes and burdock root and and and...

[nwnettlegal]

Wow , thanks for that info Jim. Now I know how to finish off my Angel wings. Was just about ready to throw them out.
Do you know or anyone else know if the false turkey tails can be used the same as the true turkey tails? Seems like the more info I get the more questions I have, ha ha.
If any one has the link to the article that talks about using the turkey tails and artist conks in soup could you please post it. I read it and now can't find it. ?? Did a search on the fourm but it didn't come up.
Thanks and Blessings,
NWNG

[jim mcdonald]

turkey tails don't have much flavor; throw them into any soup/stew stock recipe you like (super great if you've got bones in there...). I eyeball the quantities.