COOKING WITH MAGIC

A Guide to Cooking and Eating Psilocybin Mushrooms

Video simulation of the pulse effect, commonly experienced from psilocin in psilocybin mushrooms

A growing acceptance of the use of psilocybin mushrooms all over the world has led to an explosion of creativity in safe and delicious methods of culinary consumption. The psychoactive properties of shrooms are increasingly being utilised as an ‘ingredient’ in the kitchen. It is no longer unusual for someone to kick-start their morning with a dash of magic in their smoothie and at the end of the day sharing a risotto with a group of friends has revolutionised the meaning of a ‘dinner party’.

Psilocybin mushrooms – also known as magic mushrooms, shrooms, or liberty caps – is the name given to a wild variety of mushrooms that have hallucinogenic effects on the human brain. In recent years, tolerance of psychedelic drugs has begun to change all over the world. Although psilocybin mushrooms are still considered a Class A illegal drug in the UK, many parts of the world including Canada, Austria, Portugal and parts of the US have decriminalised recreational use of shrooms and a version of them is fully permitted for consumption in Amsterdam. Although the use of shrooms remains illegal in most parts of the world, the consumption of magic mushrooms is becoming ever more popular in mainstream culinary culture.

There is no widely recognised scientific research on the interrelationship between the psychoactive effects of psilocybin and the culinary experience and perception of mushrooms as food. There are, however, many firsthand tales about the pleasure and benefits of consuming shrooms from a culinary perspective. Sous Chef and avid mushroom aficionado, Joshua Barker, informs us that taking the time to cook with his magic mushrooms exponentially improves the effect of his subsequent high and also makes it come up about four times quicker.

The effect described by Barker is in part explained by the fact that shrooms create a sense of euphoria by affecting the part of the brain which regulates abstract thinking - the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain also plays a key role in mood and perception of the outside world. Famously, shrooms are known to cause hallucinations such as seeing sounds or hearing colours. A 2014 study in the Royal Society Interface Journal, researchers discovered that psilocybin creates additional communication across previously disconnected brain regions in a surprisingly organized fashion. It is this ‘cross talk’ between brain networks which is responsible for the users visual, audio and sensory hallucinations.

Molecular structure of psilocin, the active hallucinogenic chemical in magic mushrooms.

Molecular structure of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical in magic mushrooms.

The psychoactive effects of magic mushrooms are well documented as a symbol of the counterculture in 1960s America. But these small unassuming fungi have been used in spiritual and medicinal contexts for millennia. In an early foray into the history of shrooms in a paper published by Harvard University Ethnobiologist, Richard Evans Shultes, records how he witnessed ‘doctors’ using psilocybin mushrooms in Central and South America in the late 1930s. The practices that Schultes observed date back to early indigenous culture. The Aztecs called psilocybin mushrooms 'Teonanacatl’ which translates to ‘flesh of the gods’. Aztec shamans enjoyed their psilocybin coated in honey or stewed into a psychoactive tea. In a 16th century text, ‘The Florentine Codex’, Spanish Priest Bernardino de Sahagun described how shrooms were an important part of ceremonial feasting:

‘The first thing to be eaten at the feast were small black mushrooms that they called teonanacatl and bring on drunkenness, hallucinations and even lechery; they ate these before the dawn…with honey; and when they began to feel the effects, they began to dance, some sang and others wept… When the drunkenness of the mushrooms had passed, they spoke with one another of the visions they had seen.’

Tea made with powdered psilocybin mushrooms

Evidently cooking and eating magic mushrooms as part of a collective cultural experience is a practice that significantly pre-dates the 1960s. Decriminalization has resulted in a rise, both in places where it is illegal and where it is not, in creative, appetising ways to consume magic mushrooms in meals throughout the day. As something many of us are semi-familiar with, the fun-loving and colourful cousin of an ingredient we can all find in our local supermarket, it is no surprise that people choose to experiment with psilocybin in the kitchen. However some say cooking with psilocybin is a pointless exercise. Some frequent users suggest that persistent heat may affect the drug’s chemical potency rendering efforts in the kitchen futile.

Virginia Haze, co-author of The Psilocybin Cookbook disagrees citing the lack of evidence to substantiate the claim that cooking magic mushrooms disturbs the psychoactive effect. On the contrary, she tells us that ‘we all accept that tea is a good idea and that it involves heat, but it is for this reason that many people have wrongly been put off cooking with shrooms’. Mushroom tea, as we have already discovered, is perhaps one of the oldest methods of cooking psilocybin, which Virginia points out involves increasing their temperature. If Haze is correct, it would suggest that using magic mushrooms as you would shiitake or dried porcini should not disturb the desired effects too much. It is hard to ignore, however, that until there is solid research into the field it seems that the decision whether to heat up liberty caps will be best modulated by preferences based upon personal experience.

To avoid potential pitfalls of heating shrooms why not consider the recent popular trend of Microdosing. Many people take ultra-small doses of shrooms as an aid for relaxation, to increase concentration and to self medicate for mental illness (along with a myriad of other ailments). What better way to take your daily dose of magic than to find a delicious way to pop it in your breakfast? The trend of microdosing psychedelics started between 2010 and 2015 in Silicon Valley coder circles. The idea is to consume minute doses, about 1/10th or 1/20th the usual ‘recreational’ amount of shrooms, ketamine or LSD which for many can result in a generalized feeling of calm, intellectual acuteness and the ability to concentrate for hours on end. Some psilocybin microdosers advocate for its use in weaning off from anti-depressants and even lessening the symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol or other addictive substances. Better sex, relief from menstrual cramps, and decreased need for caffeine consumption have also been reported.

Dried psilocybin mushrooms in the laboratory

Again, this is a new and under-researched field of interest, but one study by Thomas Anderson et al in Harm Reduction Journal published in the summer for 2019 concurs that microdosing psilocybin-containing mushrooms led to benefits for users in some cases. In their study 26.6% of subjects reported an improvement in mood and focus, although some negative effects were reported also which only demonstrates that perhaps it is not for everyone. Between 10 - 15% of magic mushroom users are buying their shrooms in order to microdose, and many of those people choose to take their daily dose in some sort of meal. Most magic mushrooms are sold in dried form making it easier to grind into a fine powder. This tasteless mushroom dust can then be divided up into doses to be consumed in a capsule, made into a delicious fruity gummy, or sprinkled on any dish. These methods do not require any heating of the mushroom and so do not disturb any potential effects on chemical potency.

For many, cooking up a psychedelic storm is not only a much more enjoyable way of dropping shrooms, it can even become part of the ritualistic experience of the drug brought out from the Aztec jungle and into modern age by food-centric millennials. Dr K Mandrake, a microbiologist and the other mind behind The Psilocybin Cookbook concurs and suggests that cooking with shrooms ‘adds a nice extra touch to a group psychedelic experience.’ It is widely understood that the environment one is in when taking psychedelics is integral to the psychoactive experience. Dr Mandrake suggests that sitting at home chewing on dried mushrooms may not be the best way to start the psychoactive experience especially if one experiences common side-effects including nausea and pangs of anxiety. Instead he recommends a natural environment involving, ‘a delicious chocolate truffle followed by a walk in the woods which is sure to set you up for a better time. It is always important to remember that while psychedelic experiences themselves can sometimes be difficult, we like to think that by giving folks better ways to start the process off generally reduces the price of admission.’

Joshus Barker has always had a profound interest in mushrooms in all their fantastical forms. He informs us that psilocybin mushrooms are native to the UK, and he often picks them up on a walk in the Yorkshire countryside. ‘Although,’ he continues, ‘the season this past year has been unbelievably poor for magic mushrooms, and so I would recommend buying a kit online to grow them – and you don’t have to be a wonderful horticulturalist to harvest yourself a fantastic crop.’

When it comes to actually cooking your shrooms, Barker has a fool-proof recipe. ‘My general go-to method is to boil them off and add them to a blender with kombu dashi which is the quickest and easiest way to make something really delicious in what is effectively a quick mushroom soup’. In case kombu dashi isn’t something you generally find in your store cupboard, you can always try soy sauce instead. He continues, ‘the benefit to using the blender is the mushrooms are broken up nicely which stops any unpleasant chunks. Also with this dish being hot, the high comes on so much quicker. Experiences in the past with this method starts having effects on me in about 10 minutes, opposed to about 45 minutes’.

Ginger (powder, crystalline, sliced, whole).

Like with anything dangerous, cooking with magic mushrooms brings up a fine balance between benefits and dangers. One of the obvious advantages to cooking with your shrooms is their palatability. You don’t have to be Heston Blumenthal to know that mushroom tea with no additions is not going to be a delectable experience, although I would pay good money to see (or taste) what he would do with psilocybin given the chance. Cooking your liberty caps into one of the delicious recipes outlined above is, quite simply, a much more pleasant way of eating them. The other issue is shrooms are notorious for causing nausea and even vomiting in the early stages of your trip and so we must strike a balance between what might hinder feelings of illness. For example, settling into a trip with a belly full of mushroom tea might indeed be sickness-inducing, whereas other food pairings might act as a natural antiemetic. Haze suggests pairing shrooms with ingredients which help curb any feelings of nausea which might follow; ‘Ginger is fantastic for this; a real natural antiemetic, and thankfully the flavour of ginger also pairs nicely with the earthy, woody flavour of mushrooms.’ The added bonus is that ginger pairs beautifully with the shrooms themselves.

One of the main dangers with cooking your magic mushrooms is, of course, dosage. Microdosers avoid this risk by taking tiny amounts at one time. However, for the budding psilocybin chef, it might be too easy to be perhaps a little overzealous with their use of the mushrooms or conversely not use enough. Dr Mandrake suggests that ‘like cannabis edibles you need to make sure that if you're making a big batch, your dosage is evenly distributed to prevent disappointing or unexpectedly intense experiences.’ Haze & Mandrake suggest that you do your research on how much you can take and also recommend mixing them well into any dish to avoid any accidental larger-than-desired doses. Haze also adds that the best advice anyone can be given is: ‘go slow - you can always have more if you want to’. You might not be able to have any less once you have gobbled it all up.

Despite its growing popularity and the treasure trove of information on the internet and from minds like Haze & Mandrake, it is hard to ignore that there are two glaring problems with using shrooms in the kitchen. Firstly, in most parts of the world, magic mushrooms are illegal. Naturally, we know that this is not going to stop anyone using them, but perhaps it can assume there will be safer and easier access to psilocybin in locations where it has been decriminalised. As we have seen with the consumption of marijuana, it is in the places where it is not illegal that we see the most creative uses of the drug in edible form. The second problem we encounter is that the relationship between magic mushrooms as an ingredient and as a psychoactive drug is an under-researched niche in an academic context. Everything we know goes off personal experiences which means nothing is solid or grounded in science. Be that as it may, psilocybin mushrooms themselves are a heavily studied subject in the field of neuroscience and medicine. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before we begin to look into the psychological experience of cooking and eating with this unassuming little fungi which is truly magic at its very core.

If you would like to learn more about cooking, cultivating, and consuming magic mushrooms then please read more works by Dr K Mandrake & Virginia Haze such as The Psilocybin Bible or The Psilocybin Cookbook or follow them on Instagram @themushroombible.

Video simulation of the hallucinogenic effects of psilocin, the active chemical in psilocybin mushrooms

Kate Tighe20 January 2023