How to Identify Wild Reishi Mushrooms? Practical Methods Explained in One Article
What are the differences between wild reishi mushrooms and cultivated reishi mushrooms? The effects and functions of reishi mushrooms include protecting the liver and detoxifying, treating diabetes, improving the cardiovascular system, and whitening the skin, among others, and they have extremely high medicinal value. Because wild reishi mushrooms are precious, many artificially counterfeited wild reishi mushrooms have appeared on the market. So, what are the differences between wild reishi mushrooms and cultivated reishi mushrooms? Let's take a look together below!
Differences in Color
Wild reishi mushrooms, exposed to sun and rain in the wild, generally have brighter colors, a natural luster, and mottled traces of time. Cultivated reishi mushrooms, however, grow in greenhouses, have monotonous colors, and have glossy surfaces. Cultivated reishi mushrooms are not easy to store, while wild reishi mushrooms can be stored for a long time.
Size and Hardness
Cultivated reishi mushrooms generally grow in greenhouses and are usually much larger than wild reishi mushrooms, and cultivated reishi mushrooms are very consistent in size and very regular in shape. Wild reishi mushrooms collected on the mountain are generally of varying sizes, unlike cultivated reishi mushrooms, whose sizes are also similar between different batches. In addition, wild reishi mushrooms are harder than cultivated reishi mushrooms.
Whether There Are Wormholes
Cultivated reishi mushrooms generally use pesticides to control pest problems, so there are almost no wormholes. Because wild reishi mushrooms grow in a natural environment, they suffer damage from wild insects, so irregular wormholes are left under their fruiting bodies, which is a normal phenomenon.
Differences in Smell
The taste of wild reishi mushrooms is bitter, and very bitter. Generally speaking, the more bitter the reishi mushroom, the more significant its medicinal effect, as the saying goes, good medicine tastes bitter. If the “wild reishi mushroom” you buy is sweet or not bitter, then it is counterfeit. Moreover, wild reishi mushrooms do not have a smell when sniffed.
Differences in Price
Rare things are precious. The resources of wild reishi mushrooms are becoming increasingly scarce. The price of wild reishi mushrooms varies within different price ranges depending on their size, age, medicinal effect, and variety. Because cultivated reishi mushrooms are grown on a mass scale and can be supplied by the ton, they can be bought on the market for a few dozen yuan or less than one hundred yuan.