Reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) is a hard, woody, kidney-shaped shelf fungus that grows on hardwood trees. Its cap is glossy and red-brown, which is where the name lucidum, meaning shining, comes from. In China it is called Lingzhi, the "spirit mushroom", and it has been used in traditional Chinese practice for more than 2,000 years.
Our Reishi mushroom extract is a concentrated powder made from the whole fruiting body of Ganoderma lucidum, dual-extracted and lab-tested. The red-capped variety, known as Red Reishi, is the one most prized in tradition, and it is the one we use.
Reishi is studied mainly for its compound chemistry. These describe what is in the mushroom, not what it does in the body.
Ganoderic acids are the triterpene family Reishi is named for, and more than 130 distinct ones have been characterised. They are fat-soluble, so an ethanol step is needed to capture them. This is what sets Reishi apart from most mushrooms.
The water-soluble fraction of Reishi is made of beta-D-glucan and other polysaccharides, the broad compound family studied across functional mushrooms.
Reishi also carries sterols, including ergosterol, part of the wider compound profile characterised in the research literature.
From our Certificate of Analysis, batch BE20251209. 15:1 dual extract, whole fruiting body, no carriers.
Triterpenes at 6.13% are the ganoderic acids Reishi is named for, the highest of any extract in our range, and they are only reachable with the ethanol step. We disclose beta-glucans openly at 20.07%. A triterpene-led profile is normal and correct for Reishi, so we lead with polysaccharides rather than forcing a beta-glucan number.
Reishi holds two kinds of compounds that will not come out the same way. Boiling raw Reishi in water, the traditional home method, pulls only half of them.
Pulls out the water-soluble polysaccharides and beta-D-glucans.
Pulls out the fat-soluble triterpenes and ganoderic acids that water leaves behind.
Our Reishi is a 15:1 dual extract, hot water plus ethanol, so both fractions end up in the powder. Fifteen kilograms of raw Reishi go into one kilogram of finished extract, a higher concentration than our other extracts.
Most Reishi shortcuts use mycelium grown on grain, which carries far less triterpene content and adds grain starch as filler. Ours is made from the whole kidney-shaped Reishi fruiting body, the part that actually holds the ganoderic acids, with no mycelium on grain and no fillers. That is why our triterpene number can be printed on the page.
Reishi has a deep, earthy, bitter taste, which comes from the triterpenes and is a sign of a real fruiting-body extract. Stir 1 to 2 grams into hot water, tea, or broth. In Chinese tradition it was taken in the evening as a slow wind-down ritual, and that is still how many people use it today. It is naturally caffeine-free.
In the Shennong Ben Cao Jing, the oldest Chinese materia medica compiled in the Eastern Han period, Reishi was ranked the number-one "superior herb", placed even above ginseng. The first emperor of unified China, Qin Shi Huang, is recorded sending a fleet of some 3,000 people east in 219 BC in search of a plant of immortality. The same tradition later named Lingzhi that immortality herb. We share this as history and culture, not as a health claim.
Reishi is a food and is not for medicinal use. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you take blood-thinning medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are on any medication, consult a doctor before use. Marketed by Nutradose Private Limited under FSSAI License No. 13326999000107.
Composition references (identity only): Wachtel-Galor et al., in Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects 2011, PMID 22593954. Paterson, Phytochemistry 2006, 67(18):1985 to 2001. Kubota et al., Helvetica Chimica Acta 1982 (first characterisation of Reishi triterpenes).
