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The Great Mycelium Debate

If you’re a mushrooms fan (and, let’s face it — who isn’t?) you will have heard quite a lot about the benefits of mycelium. Mycelium, which is basically the roots of a mushroom, has many reported benefits. Read on to discover why we opt not to include mycelium in our mushroom products.   What is mycelium?   Let’s start at the very beginning. Mushrooms, like all life forms, have a unique life cycle. When a mature mushroom (known as fruiting body) drops its spores, they take root and produce hyphae. These are thread-like roots that sprout from the spores. After...

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Mister Mycology: A day in the life of a mushroom grower

Everybody knows that farming is a full time job — and then some. Thankfully, mushrooms don’t need to be milked, but they do have some very specific growing requirements. That’s why we spend our days checking and cleaning and checking again. We’re committed to providing all-natural, spray-free medicinal mushrooms — and here are some of the things we do each day to make that happen. Substrate sterilisation Say that five times fast! The stuff that we grow our mushrooms in is called substrate. And it needs to be sterile, so we can be sure that it doesn’t contain spores or...

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The largest living organism is a humongous fungus

Step (well, swim) aside, blue whales. It’s time for the lesser-known giants of nature to finally get some airtime. And our favourite lesser-known giants are obviously fungi. Read on for some fun facts.   Size matters When it comes to size, blue whales are definitely impressive. At up to 25m in length and weighing up to 150 000kg, there’s no denying they make a statement. But if you’re looking for a less obvious large organism, check out the honey fungus. It positively dwarfs the average blue whale: the largest on record measures 3.8km across! But honey fungus keeps a low profile....

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Touchwood Mushrooms leading mycologist, Graham Upson

Graham’s picks — unmissable mushroom books

Our founder, Graham Upson, is a busy man. Particularly with all the work involved in launching our new line of Touchwood Mushrooms liquids (on top of the normal work of growing and processing mushrooms and running his Denmark WA farm). But we managed to grab him for a quick chat recently, and he shared his top three resources for people who are keen to learn even more about mushrooms.   Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets While we choose not to include mycelium in our products, there’s no denying Paul Stamets is one of the world’s leading mycologists. Linking mushroom cultivation,...

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