How to dry and store psilocybe mushrooms
STEP 13. Day 32-33. How to Dry and Store Psilocybin mushrooms: Complete Guide
Harvested psilocybin mushrooms can be stored fresh for a few days in the refrigerator at +3°...+5°C (37-41°F). You can also freeze them. You can preserve mushrooms in honey. But for long-term storage there is no better way than to dry them out. This method has been tested for centuries on edible mushrooms, and psilocybin mushrooms aren't exception.
Dried mushrooms can be used for making capsules for microdosing, mushroom chocolate, mushroom tea, or consume for psychedelic trips.
🔴 Actually, up to 50% of psilocybin mushrooms activity is lost, even dried them properly.
How to Freeze fresh Psilocybin Mushrooms?
Freezing allows preserving almost all psilocybin contained in the mushrooms. This is the main advantage of such storage method.
However, we would recommend drying them a little. Why?
Water, which makes up to 90% of the mass of the fungus, crystallizes when freezing. Thus, frozen mushrooms will retain their shape with ice crystals instead of their own cellular structure.
Since ice expands during crystallization, cells are destroyed. Frozen mushrooms after defrosting can turn into a shapeless mass.
The faster and deeper mushrooms are frozen, the less and smaller ice crystals are formed in them. Thus, the structure of mushroom cells is preserved better.
Freeze-drying is used in industrial scale. Freeze-drying (aka lyophilisation or cryodesiccation) — is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product, lowering pressure, then removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by most conventional methods that evaporate water using heat. This is the best and most expensive method that preserves mushroom structure, shape and color.
How to freeze mushrooms at home? It's super easy. Pack them in airtight bags, plastic sealed containers or zip bags. Put them in the freezer at -15° ..- 18°C.
⭐️ Ideally in «quick dry freeze» mode at -20°..- 30°C.
❗️Defrost mushrooms before consumption only!
❌ Psilocybin mushrooms shouldn't be frozen again after defrosting. This is the main disadvantage of this storage method. Since any sudden shutdowns of the refrigerator can ruin the frozen crop. Therefore, drying mushrooms is still preferable method.
Basic rules for drying psilocybin mushrooms
🔴 Don't put mushrooms on newspapers / magazines / prints. The ink contains heavy metals. Save mushrooms from such interaction and, accordingly, yourself from an additional portion of toxic substances.
🔴 Don't put mushrooms in direct sunlight while drying! Ultraviolet light negatively affects psilocybin and increases the loss of mushrooms psychedelic activity.
🔴 Drying temperature shouldn't exceed +50°C. Psilocybin starts decomposition process at higher temperatures. As a result, loose mushroom psychedelic activity.
🔴 The less time mushrooms are exposed to oxygen during drying, the less psilocybin is lost.
Drying rate for long-term storage
Mushrooms are 90% water. This means they dry out at least 10 times. Remains on average 7-10% of dry matter.
For long-term storage, we need to leave dry mass only. The mushrooms should be dried like cracker or fruit chips.
When you bent they should crack and break easily.
Temperature for Drying Magic Mushrooms
Temperature range for drying psilocybin mushrooms is +20°..+50°C or 68-122°F.
At a lower temperature, they will dry too slowly and will interact with oxygen for too long. This leads to the loss of mushrooms psychoactivity.
At higher temperatures psilocybin begins to decompose into psilocin, which is released under the influence of oxygen and magic disappear!
But what about mushroom tea? - you can ask. Because tea is brewed at temperature about +70°C or 158°F.
When heated water to +87°C or 190°F psilocybin immediately transforms into psilocin. Therefore, when consumed it in the form of tea, your stomach doesn't waste time on this metamorphosis and absorb it faster. As a result, your trip starts faster.
This is the main trick of mushroom tea. But tea with released psilocin is drunk immediately unlike dried mushrooms you are going to store for a long time. Therefore, we need to maximize the preservation of the available psilocybin in mushrooms and prevent its rapid breakdown and release.
When heated above +137°C (280°F) or prolonged boiling, the psychoactive components of psilocybin mushrooms are completely destroyed. Mushrooms are still edible after that, but meaningless.
Let us remind you that during proper drying up to 50% of mushroom psychoactivity is lost. It's impossible to avoid. But proper drying can minimize these losses.
Let's check easy methods for drying mushrooms at home.
How to Properly Dry or Dehydrate Mushrooms
Let's take a look at a few options how you can dry magic mushrooms at home.
1️⃣ How to Dry Psilocybin Mushrooms in Dehydrator
The most convenient and fastest way to dry mushrooms. The mushrooms in the dehydrator dry out gradually and evenly.
Put harvested mushrooms in a single layer in the dehydrator. You can lay them out on a thin cloth, so that small mushrooms do not fall through the dehydrator mesh during drying process.
Set the temperature in the range of +35°..+45°C or 95-115°F, but no more than +50°C or 122°F. We prefer to dry at low temperatures, at +35.. +40°C.
Drying time from 3 to 24 hours, depending on the weight of mushrooms and temperature. Manual to dehydrator contains information about drying time depending on weight and temperature.
The readiness «crisp, like chips» is determined empirically.
But what to do if you don't have such device? All methods are listed below for your help.
2️⃣ How to dry mushrooms without dehydrator and fan
Mushrooms can be dried at room temperature without any extra gadgets.
Simply lay them out on a paper towel, parchment paper or a baking tray in a one layer, without piling them on top of each other. Leave them to dry out on any flat surface.
Don't expose mushrooms to direct sunlight! Put them in the shade in a draught or in ventilated room. Turn them over once a day to dry evenly.
Such natural drying process will take at least 2 days, depending on the air temperature and relative humidity.
If mushrooms remain soft after such drying, then try to dry them with food grade silica gel, under fan, fan heater or in the oven. This will be discussed below.
3️⃣ How to dry mushrooms with fan
Put the harvested crop in a sieve or put mushrooms on a flat surface in one layer and place them under the air stream of regular fan or fan heater. This way you can significantly speed up the drying process or dry slightly soft mushrooms after natural drying.
If mushrooms remain soft during this drying process, try to dry out mushrooms with food grade silica gel or in the oven.
4️⃣ Drying mushrooms on radiator or domestic heater
During the heating season you can take advantage of warmth of household heating radiators and heaters.
Put mushrooms on a paper towel or parchment. Leave mushroom on a warm radiator or heater for 1-2 days. If the heater is too hot you can put a towel under the mushroom scrolls.
To check the temperature of the radiator/heater just put a thermometer on its surface.
From time to time turn mushrooms, so that they dry evenly.
5️⃣ How to dry mushrooms in the oven
Modern ovens allow you to turn on convection (built-in fan in the oven) and set a minimum temperature +40°C or 100-110°F. This is a great way to dry mushrooms. Preferably place them on a mesh tray rather than a solid tray - this allows air to circulate more evenly on all sides of the mushrooms.
If your oven doesn't allow you to set such low temperature of +40°..+50°C or 100-120°F we still recommend drying mushrooms by the methods described above.
With slightly heated oven you can finish drying soft/moist mushrooms in a warm (not hot!) oven, preferably with open door. You can even check the temperature with a household thermometer because you don't want the temperature to go above +50°C (120°F).
Be careful! Don't spoil your harvest in hot oven!
6️⃣ Food-grade silica gel for drying mushrooms
Food-grade silica gel is a water-absorbing agent in granules. It is used in packs with spices, nuts, and various snacks. Silica gel is best used to dry slightly soft mushrooms. It will help to absorb residual moisture from dehydrated mushrooms.
Silica gel is also used for further storage. It is enough to put 1-2 sachets in each jar/package with dried mushrooms.
How to Store Magic Mushrooms
Store dried mushrooms in food zip bags, vacuum bags or in jars with tightly closed lids. It is important to avoid contact with oxygen.
If you have vacuum packing machine it would be great for mushroom storage. It will definitely avoid mushrooms contact with oxygen.
Psilocybin mushrooms also store very well in tightly closed zip bags (without air in it).
Keeping mushrooms dry and absorbing the slight moisture in mushrooms allows food-grade silica gel. Add 1-2 sachets to each jar/pack with dried psilocybin mushrooms.
Sign each packs with magic mushrooms. Indicate species, strains, flush, date and weight. It is convenient to store mushrooms in portions of 5-10 grams.
🔴 Psilocybin mushrooms must be stored in a dark, cool place. Room temperature is also okay (+20°..+25°C or 68-77°F) in a dark corner of any cabinet or in the refrigerator.
How long can mushrooms be stored for? Do Psychedelic Mushrooms Go Bad?
If stored properly dried psilocybin mushrooms retain their properties and psychoactivity up to 2 years.
After 2 years, they do not spoil, don't get worse or go bad at all, they will not become dangerous for consumption. As time passes, magic mushrooms slowly lose their magic. Concentration of psilocybin and psilocin is decreasing.
The harvest is taken care of. Now to continue fruiting process and to start new flush of fruiting and harvesting you need to move on — STEP 14. Day 32-33. Rehydration for magic mushroom cake
Any questions? Have something to add? Ask and share in comments ⬇️