My First Attempt at Cooking With a Lion’s Mane Mushroom

I decided to make soup with it

I bought half a pound of fresh Lion’s Mane from a local grower in our area. Evergreen Mushrooms, LLC sells their mushrooms at the Carson Farmer’s Market and advertises on Facebook and Nextdoor. We need to add more vegetables to our diet, so I decided to buy one and try it out.

The growers usually deliver their fresh mushrooms. I live just outside of their delivery zone, so we decided to meet in a central area instead.

It’s almost impossible to look up information on the Lion’s Mane mushroom without scrolling through page after page highlighting its health benefits. I wasn’t wanting to buy supplements or read about their benefits. I just wanted to know how to cook it!

I read through some of the benefits anyway. Lion’s Mane is supposed to help with:

Anxiety

Depression

High cholesterol

Inflammation Source

On their Facebook and Instagram pages, Evergreen Mushrooms suggested brewing the shredded Lion’s Mane into a tea. They do this by simmering the shredded mushrooms in water for a couple hours. Once the tea is brewed, it’s put into a glass jar and stored in the refrigerator. The growers add a little of this brew to their coffee every morning.

I was more interested in soup, so that’s what I did instead.

I shredded the mushroom and added it to a large pot of water with diced carrots, celery, and lots of garlic. I added thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and a few dried red pepper flakes. After the soup simmered for an hour or so, I added a tablespoon of powdered chicken broth for more flavor.

The soup simmered for at least two hours before I decided to try it. I had some for dinner that night. It also made an easy breakfast the next morning.

I thought it was decent soup, especially for a cold day. I could taste the mushroom flavor. The only part I didn’t care for was the stringy texture of the cooked mushrooms. Next time instead of shredding the mushroom, I’ll chop it into smaller pieces.