Gourmet & Forest Mushrooms

Our gourmet and forest mushrooms collection brings together the culinary and functional species that do not fit neatly into a single supplement category — prized for the kitchen, for tradition, and for their nutrition. It spans chanterelle (whole and in capsules), morel, shiitake, tremella and phallus impudicus.

These are the mushrooms cooks reach for and traditional users have valued for centuries. Chanterelles and morels are gourmet staples with real nutritional value; shiitake bridges kitchen and medicine cabinet; tremella is the "beauty mushroom" celebrated for skin hydration. Because several are sold dried for cooking, our guide on cooking and drying and on safe morel preparation are essential reading before you cook.

Dried forest mushrooms rehydrate quickly and concentrate flavour, making them ideal for stocks, risottos and teas. Whether you are cooking a special meal or exploring tremella for skincare, this collection is where the store's culinary and traditional mushrooms live side by side.

Cooking with dried mushrooms. Drying is not merely preservation — with several of these species it concentrates and develops flavour. Dried shiitake, for instance, develops guanylate during drying and is genuinely more savoury than fresh in cooked dishes. The general method is the same across the collection: rehydrate in warm water for 20–30 minutes, then lift the mushrooms out rather than pouring, so grit stays at the bottom. Squeeze out excess water before frying or they will steam instead of browning.

Always keep the soaking liquid. It carries the water-soluble compounds and a great deal of flavour, and strained through a fine cloth it makes an outstanding base for stock, risotto or sauce. Discarding it throws away the best part — this is the most common mistake with dried mushrooms.

Two safety points worth reading. Morels must be thoroughly cooked — raw or lightly cooked morels contain thermolabile toxins and cause gastrointestinal illness, and true morels (Morchella) are completely hollow from cap to stem when sliced lengthways, while the potentially fatal false morel (Gyromitra) is chambered inside with a brain-like rather than pitted cap. Shiitake should not be eaten raw either: raw or undercooked shiitake causes shiitake dermatitis, a distinctive whip-like rash, which thorough cooking prevents. Cook every wild mushroom in this collection properly rather than eating it raw.

Identification. Chanterelles have blunt, forking false gills running down the stem and smell of apricot; the false chanterelle and the toxic jack-o'-lantern both have true, blade-like gills. Everything here is identified, hand-sorted and verified to species before drying, and our lab certificates are published — but if you forage your own, verify every specimen.