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Medicinal Mushrooms - Turkey Tail

Writer's picture: The Wild CookeThe Wild Cooke

This beautiful bracket fungus has the properties to potentially improve your health. It is very well researched in this particular area and, luckily for us, is abundant across the UK. Let's take a closer look...

So abundant, this is growing at my supermarket car park!
So abundant, this is growing at my supermarket car park!

Identification


Turkey tail // Trametes versicolor


What a stunning fungus. Just like the bird it takes it's common name from, turkey tail creates a beautiful fan of banded colours, usually with a pale, outer edge. The colours can range somewhat with blue, brown and white hues. The individual brackets are quite small (2-10 cm), thin and are slightly hairy, usually feeling velvety and smooth. They often grow in rosettes, tiers or rows and you can tear or rip them easily from the substrate.

Underneath (see the second photo below), you will see a creamy-white underside made up of tiny tubes or pores that are slightly spongy. This fungus mostly grows on hardwood logs and you can find it all year round.



There are a few similar looking species, including closely related Trametes. The latter do not have the blue zones found on the true turkey tail. Others include the false turkey tail (Stereum ostrea) that is red-brown and smooth underneath or hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirsutum) which is smooth and yellow underneath.


If you find a green example it is likely to be old and covered in algae.


The underside of turkey tail
The underside of turkey tail

Uses

This is a very tough, tasteless species and therefore not one for eating in the traditional sense. Other than its medicinal properties, it is sometimes harvested for more artistic pursuits to make things like jewelry, for example.


"We are now rediscovering that which our ancestors long ago knew: That mushrooms are deep reservoirs for very powerful medicines" Paul Stamets

Health

Traditionally, this fungus was used in Chinese medicine for the immune system, liver problems, tumours, the lungs, and urinary tract. More recently, as well as its generally use as a health-booster, it has been utilised alongside conventional cancer treatments to increase survival years and reduce side effects. There are also reports attesting to its use against viral conditions like HIV, herpes, and chronic fatigue syndrome.




Paul Stamets, famous mycologist and researcher, tells an amazing story about his mothers journey with stage four breast cancer in a TED MED talk (starting at the 7:50 mark). We do not stop at humans, some people are using fungi, like turkey tails, to support the health of pets (see resources below).


Processing

There are a variety of methods to siphon those important compounds including powdering, fermentation, and extraction. Do some research to see what benefits you will get from each different method. Personally I steep it in broths to add those immune boosting qualities and make up a dual extraction which I take through the winter months (when I remember or if I feel like I am fighting something off).


It is worth noting that turkey tail is also loved by insects and can often be riddled without you noticing. I have found this out the hard way after placing some dried pieces in a jar and returning to find a bunch of unwanted bugs having a mushroom party on what was left of my harvest! A stint in the freezer will ensure they remain free of any pests.



Cooking up a health-boosting broth
Cooking up a health-boosting broth

Purchasing

Many folk prefer to buy their extractions and mushroom powders. Look for a responsible and well-known seller and keep in mind that their processing methods will vary so try and look into those. Products can be made up of the pure fungus, either with fruiting bodies or with the mycelium but at the time of writing this they are structurally treated as the same. If your product is made from mycelium biomass it contains part of the substrate (usually grain) the mushroom mycelium is grown on. This can impact the consistency and flavour. For turkey tail, my resources (listed below) show the same health benefits from using either the pure form or the mycelial biomass.


Caution

Disclaimer - whilst I am a general foraging tutor and I love to tell you what have learned and experienced, I am not a mycologist or a health care professional.

For those planning on self-medicating through any methods, please remember, it is always recommended to speak to your health care professional first and do thorough research first.


I say it again. What a stunner of a fungus!



References


Medicinal Mushrooms - The Essential Guide by Martin Powell


Paws And Polypaws article in The Mushroom Spring/Summer 2021 by Attila FÅ‘di and What's In My Mushrooms? by Zhang Yi and Martin Powell in the same publication


Black's Nature Guides Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe




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