Usually when you grow mushrooms you do it in two steps. First you grow out the mycelium on a growth medium such as grains, then you spread out the mycelium and cover it with some casing material, say peat moss, and fruit it under different environmental conditions. A typical mushroom lab has two areas built out (say with plastic sheets) to maintain the conditions for these two phases.
Looks like their machine creates conditions to fruit mycelium blocks that they send to you in the mail.
It's a big plus that it works with mycelium blocks you make yourself.
No no no.. for Lion's Mane, you want only the mycelium. How do you grow it in liquid such that 100% of the mycelium is available? Growing on grain ruins the cost-efficiency of the product.
The fruiting body of hericium mushrooms like lion's mane do not contain Erinacine A, which is generally recognized to be the most beneficial component of lions mane. That compound is present only in the mycelium. The fruiting body does contain Hericenones, which are also thought to have some health benefits, just not the nervous system repair benefits that Erinacine A provides.
No problem - the post you were replying to also left out some information, though- almost all hericium liquid culture mycelium also fail to produce the compound in question. It can be produced with certain specific liquid cultures, but for the home grower the highest erinacine A yields can be achieved by growing on small-ground corn kernel ( <2 mm ).
you could be forgiven for thinking consumption of the fruiting body is what provides benefits - almost all lions mane 'supplement' companies are selling dried, ground fruit bodies because that also 'supplements' their income stream - sell the fruiting bodies for a premium, grind up the trim pieces and leftovers for a secondary income stream. They fail to mention that the product they are selling is essentially worthless, outside of what could be better achieved by eating fruiting bodies anyhow.
There are a few reputable companies out there that validate the amount of erinacine A in a typical batch, those are the ones you want to buy from.
The thing that confuses me about this is that Hericium has a long history of medicinal use. My understanding is the peoples and cultures that ate it consumed the frit body, not the mycelium.
I had been considering setting up my own small lab to grow and do experiments for ... reasons. I think that this is a great way to get started and should greatly simplify the process.
I don't think it makes sense to spend $300 on a tiny tub given how easy it is to do this stuff with jars or Ikea tubs. You'll probably want a lot of tubs anyway.
Looks like their machine creates conditions to fruit mycelium blocks that they send to you in the mail.
It's a big plus that it works with mycelium blocks you make yourself.