How long do psychedelic mushrooms last on the shelf? potency and toxins

Two friends bring forth a bag of decanted mushrooms that they have identified with a sense of experience. The question at hand does not relate to the mushroom’s identity and the friends are armed to deal with a psychedelic experience. Dry in a sealed container, cold, but for a few months, the question concerns the quality. The shelf life of psychedelic mushrooms depends on several factors. One must consider toxins and the shelf life of psilocybin and terpenes.

Mold eats mold and is careful

First, a regular fresh mushroom can only survive so long before it goes moldy. Yes, mushrooms grow on mushrooms, as there are both benign and predatory species. dr Markus Roggen, President and CSO of Delic Labs, had a curious comment about these natural occurrences during a telephone conversation. His comments were echoes of Dr. Eric Janusson’s answer to my durability question.

In our work with functional mushrooms we have dried products. So these have been dried out, similar to how you prepare cannabis. They dry before being sold to the consumer because they have a much longer shelf life in this form.

But within three months we started seeing mold on some of these products. And that under seating conditions, ambient humidity and room temperature.

DR Janusson.

Testing toxins in the lab

Numinus has its own research exemption for psilocybin as well as other psychedelics. They are currently analyzing nephrotoxic and hepatoxic compounds found on and in psychedelic mushrooms. Toxic screens developed from peer-reviewed literature help determine shelf life and include allenic-norleucine, muscarine, muscimol, propargylglycine, and ibotenic acid.

Not all of these are found in Psilocybe mushrooms, but Numinus provides this screen as a critical checkpoint for potential contaminants and adulterants.

Sharan Sidhu – Scientific Officer and Managing Director – number.
A healthy, fresh psychedelic mushroom. True Albino Teacher, KSAT – Photo by Bones In My Pocket.

Loss of potency, psilocybin and durability

Delic Labs had not yet begun stability studies on mushroom storage at the time of the conversation. The lab had to refine tests to accurately quantify psychedelic ingredients before conducting shelf life studies. However, noted Dr. Rye nuances, how to represent the quality of a mushroom. There are concerns about mold and mycotoxins, but of course potency is always a quality issue.

Do you think the levels of psilocybin are stable or not falling below a certain threshold? We really need to test that. We don’t know the answer yet. This research is lacking and needed for industry.

dr Rye.

Psychedelic molecules in fresh and dried mushrooms, especially psilocin, tend to oxygenate. Magic mushrooms therefore quickly lose their potency and magic if stored improperly. The loss of potency is even more complex as the rate of degradation depends on environmental conditions and even different strains of fungus.

according to dr Janusson, environmental conditions such as temperature, light, humidity, type of fungus, state of the material (ground/dried/in solution/etc.) and the amount of oxygen present affect potency. As a solution, companies often add vitamin C to psilocin products as an antioxidant. But vitamin C also has a limited shelf life without other ingredients.

Another way to combat degradation is to stick with the old school, stick with psilocybin and activate the molecule before consumption. Psilocybin is relatively stable to psilocin. While pharmaceutical-focused companies like Cybin have engineered synthetic modifications to psilocybin to increase stability and shelf life.

Finally, there are terpenes in fresh psilocybin mushrooms that could serve as a third and final shelf life quality. Let us know how long you have successfully stored psychedelic mushrooms in the comments.

Cover Photo | coopetz33