Adi's Urban Mushrooms' Process

Know What You're Buying

Before anything else, it helps to know where your money goes. Adi's Urban Mushrooms is a non-profit social enterprise, so every pound supports community mycology and local, circular food systems rather than shareholders or profit margins. You can read more in Where Your Money Goes below.

Here is what you are actually buying across each of our product groups:

Fresh mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms grown locally at The Remakery in Camberwell/Brixton, harvested fresh for weekend farmers' markets and local delivery in South London.

Processed mushrooms

Mushroom jerky, deeply umami mushroom stock, gourmet risotto boxes, and dried foraged porcini and mixed boletes - made from surplus fresh mushrooms and locally foraged fungi, so nothing goes to waste. Coming soon: seasoned mushroom powders and crisps.

Food supplements

Small-batch, double-extracted Lion's Mane tinctures and powders made from 100% fruiting bodies that I grow and forage myself. See the detailed Food Supplements section below.

Services

Mushroom cultivation workshops and guided foraging walks, taught by someone with 45+ years' experience. Sliding-scale tickets keep them accessible to everyone.

Food Supplements

What do you actually buy when you buy supplements? Many people don't realise that on the market, especially on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, there are mushroom powders that are adulterated. A significant proportion of mushroom powders on the market are reported not to contain 100% mushroom fruiting body as they are supposed to (Nammex, n.d.).

The problem is extensive. I have heard of cases from a colleague who tested products by British companies that revealed mislabelling - they claimed their supplements were made with 100% mushroom when in fact they were found to contain grains as well as mycelium. These companies use grain spawn as a shortcut and money-saver, not growing mushrooms but using the inoculated grain. That is a completely different thing from 100% fruiting body, and unfortunately these are sold by British suppliers at premium prices. There are also concerns in the industry that mushrooms grown abroad may be repackaged and sold as British products at a higher price point, though documented cases in the peer-reviewed literature remain limited.

So you see, the issue of authenticity and transparency is important to Adi's Urban Mushrooms. That is why I want you to consider carefully, and to really ask questions about where your mushrooms are coming from and what they contain. Look for somebody who is honest about what they put in their tinctures and mushroom powders, and who is honest and fully transparent about where their mushrooms come from.

The science-backed benefits of double-extracted Lion's Mane food supplements

Double-extracted mushroom tinctures and powders have taken the health and wellness world by storm, especially with interest in their potential cognitive, immune-boosting, and stress-relieving benefits. Double extraction, which uses both water and alcohol to pull out a full range of beneficial compounds, allows for a potent, full-spectrum product that should maximise the potential health effects of medicinal mushrooms. Here is a look at what current research says about Lion's Mane mushrooms, as well as the limitations and areas where more human-focused studies are needed.

Current research focus

Lion's Mane is best known for its potential cognitive benefits. Compounds in Lion's Mane, such as hericenones and erinacines, have been shown to stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF), which supports brain health and cognitive function.

Cognitive support and neuroprotection: Multiple animal studies and a few human studies suggest that Lion's Mane may improve memory and cognitive function, potentially offering protection against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. In a small human study, elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment showed improved cognitive function after regular intake of Lion's Mane extract (Mori et al., 2009, cited in Venturella et al., 2021).

Mental health benefits: Some studies indicate that Lion's Mane may have an anti-anxiety effect. Animal models have shown that the mushroom's compounds can reduce depressive and anxious behaviours, potentially due to its effects on neurogenesis and inflammation reduction.

Supporting gut health: Mushroom polysaccharides, including those found in Lion's Mane, are resistant to human digestive enzymes and may act as prebiotics, serving as a potential source of energy for the gut microbiome and promoting the growth of beneficial gut flora (Jayachandran et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2023).

Preliminary evidence of neurocognitive benefit: A pilot randomised controlled trial found that supplementing the diet with Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) was a safe and well-tolerated intervention with promising preliminary evidence of neurocognitive benefit, though larger studies are needed to confirm these findings (Cernelic Bizjak et al., 2024).

Where more research is needed

Most research on Lion's Mane has been conducted in vitro (in cell cultures) and in vivo (in animals, mainly mice and rats), with limited scientific support from studies involving humans. Though the number of good-quality human studies is increasing - see, for example, Cernelic Bizjak et al. (2024) and Docherty et al. (2023) - and early human trials are promising, larger-scale human studies are necessary to confirm its effects on memory, cognition, and mood (Venturella et al., 2021). As it stands, we cannot make any well-evidenced claims about their health benefits. Despite this, there may be further research that will show this, and there is certainly no harm in taking these supplements. They have been taken for a long time in some, mainly Asian, cultures.

How I Make My Tinctures

I produce all mushroom supplements through small-batch double extraction. Double extraction means I use both alcohol and water to extract the beneficial compounds from the mushroom fruiting bodies that I cultivate myself at Adi's Urban Mushrooms.

Here's how the process works: first, I take the dried and powdered mushroom fruiting bodies and extract them with alcohol for at least two months. Alcohol is excellent at extracting lipid-soluble compounds and many of the active constituents from mushrooms. I then filter out the mushroom material and set the alcohol extraction aside.

Next, I take a new batch of dried and powdered mushroom fruiting bodies and put it through a water extraction process by simmering it for 2 to 2.5 hours. Water pulls out water-soluble compounds and polysaccharides - compounds that alcohol cannot effectively extract. This water extract is then combined with the alcohol extract to create the double-extracted tincture.

The ratio I use is 1:4 - meaning one part dried mushroom to four parts finished liquid. This is equal to 0.25g of dried (or 2.5g of fresh) mushroom in every ml of tincture. The final product is approximately 30% ABV (alcohol by volume). This is important because it allows the tincture to be shelf-stable while preserving all those beneficial compounds from both the alcohol and water extraction phases.

Why does this matter? Because the bioactive compounds - such as beta-glucans and hericenones - are located in the cell walls of fungal tissue as well as throughout the fruiting body. Those cell walls are made of chitin, which is very hard for us to digest. This is one of the reasons you should always cook mushrooms. When you use just alcohol or just water, you're only getting part of the picture. Double extraction ensures that you're accessing the broadest spectrum of compounds that may be beneficial to your health.

Where Your Money Goes

As a non-profit social enterprise, every pound supports Adi's Urban Mushrooms to create opportunities for people to connect with fungi and each other, and to create local circular food systems for the benefit of people and the environment. Your money doesn't go to shareholders or profit margins - it goes back into community, learning, and sustainability.

When you buy from me, you're supporting:

• Community Mycology Lab (coming soon) - £11,000 reinvested into a state-of-the-art mycology lab, supporting local growers and artists working with mycelium.
• South London Mushroom Club - monthly gatherings for fungi enthusiasts to create, learn, share knowledge, and build a network whatever your interest in mushrooms is.
• Food Bank Mushroom Growing Project (planned) - teaching local users of food banks how to grow their own mushrooms, with recycled packaging straw, increasing nutritious food access in under-resourced communities.

I'm committed to building a local circular economy where mushrooms support wellbeing, community resilience, and environmental sustainability.