Today, all kinds of mushrooms are available that'll keep your nutrition consistent, add great flavors to your favorite recipes, and keep your calories low. 

With over 14,000 species of mushrooms discovered, the top performers can be really tough to navigate. That's why our team at Troomy's taken a deep dive into what sets each of the top performers apart, which ones are the easiest to use, and what health support or benefits you can expect.

Adaptogenic Mushrooms vs Everyday Mushrooms

Before we get into each species of mushrooms, there's an important distinction you should be familiar with between adaptogenic mushrooms and just your average off-the-shelf mushrooms. 

Adaptogenic mushrooms are just a tier above the average mushroom you'd see off the shelf in a grocery store, and have the science to back it up. Usually in farmer's markets or online, these are going to be mushrooms that have some kind of medicinal, or functional purpose.

 These targeted areas of support include:

• Improving sleep
• Elevating energy
• Relieving stress and anxiety
• Increasing immune support
• Boosting daily function, focus, and productivity

The Big Focus of Adaptogenic Mushroom Use in Nootropics, Supplements, Coffees, and More

Beyond these target function areas, brain health and cognitive function are huge in the mushroom space today. They make all the difference in giving you an advantage at the office, keeping your grades up in school, keeping the house in order, and everything in-between. These superfoods have been directly connected to boosting neural power and keeping your brain in a stronger state of mind for centuries, and can pair those support areas with better sleep, energy, and all the others you see above.

Now of course, not every mushroom is going to be able to hit all of these categories. That's why supplements, teas, coffees, and gummies have been introduced to the adaptogenic mushroom space.

Best Mushrooms Available in 2022

Lion's Mane Mushroom

This is a fantastic, foundational mushroom to give a try in your diet. As a leader in the apoptogenic group of fungi, the primary areas of support for lion's mane are:

• Immune functional support
• Heart health
• Anxiety reduction
• brain health and cognitive function
• Digestion

Just think about your day with a lion's mane-powered energy to it. Easier time feeling good, better focus in your work, and less impact from anxiety on daily function.

On top of these main areas of daily function, you also could be getting long term support as well with cancer, diabetes, and other ailments.

White Button Mushroom

These have probably been in recipes you've had your whole life. They have a ton of sub varieties of species, and are versatile with mild flavors and are edible both raw and cooked. These are perfect for adding to your pizza, a soup, pasta, or salad.

When you get sturdy servings of white button mushrooms, you can expect:

• B12 vitamins
• D2 vitamins
• May reduce heart disease risk with stronger heart health
• Low calories

While they aren't in the adaptogenic mushroom category per se, they still carry strong nutritional value and can be used as supplements. However, you'll probably be better off just working them into meals more often. Even just as a garnish, they're delicious when cooked right and have tons of simple recipes you can try today.

Overall, most of the white button species aren't going to change your life as nutrition boosters or for a crazy amount of energy.

 Cordyceps Mushroom

Cordyceps are another highly popular adaptogenic mushroom that are top-tier in performance. Of the majority of mushroom species, these give you the best chance at:

• Feeling energized
• Keeping your mood lifted through the day
• Strengthening your fitness stamina
• Reducing fatigue and recovery time

In our gummies at Troomy, we've used cordyceps as the flagship supplement for our Boost line, which has been our top gummy over the last few months. You can check out Boost here if you're looking to get ahead in the weight room, classroom, or at the office.

Oyster Mushroom

Easily the most visually incredible and still a nutritionally impactful mushroom available today. The main areas that oyster mushrooms excel are:

• Building bone strength and maintaining bone health
• Reducing blood pressure
• Inflammation reduction
• Cardiovascular/ heart health protection

As a staple, this is great for boosting your immune health overall, and is a great supplement for each of these areas. Luckily, they're popular in many recipes today, and can quickly be added in a sauté. They're not as common in supplements, but you can certainly be on the lookout for them in restaurant recipes as well!

Chaga Mushroom

Chaga mushrooms are outstanding for their connection to sleep health, stress relief, and healing properties as well. They can change your daily function immensely with even just one serving.

Benefits linked to the chaga mushroom include:

• Blood sugar reduction
• Cholesterol balancing
• Fighting inflammation with antioxidant support
• Disease, sickness, flu symptom support

If you're looking forward to a big weekend ahead and start to feel sick, chaga mushrooms might be the perfect supplement before bed. You can get these in all kinds of powders, capsules, or gummies to keep your prep time minimal, and start to help your body feel better fast.

Shiitake Mushroom

These have a ver unique flavoring and are used in a variety of cuisines, including Japanese as the one of the most popular. 

Shiitake mushrooms can be borderline considered as adaptogenic, just not as the highest performers for functional purposes like sleeping better, increasing athletic stamina, energy, and more.

The top vitamins and nutrients in shiitake mushrooms include:

• Potassium
• Vitamin D
• Copper
• Magnesium
• Iron

If you're looking to give shiitake mushrooms a try, stir-fry and risotto are two incredible dishes with strong recipe varieties you can checkout here. 

 

Reishi Mushroom

The reishi mushroom is another superstar you can be using for relaxation, sleep, and more. The vitamins in reishi are great for gene maniuplation in white blood cells, which translates to getting stronger immune system regulation.

Some top areas of support linked to reishi are:

• Sleep support
• Anti-aging
• Brain health support
• Easier time dealing with nerves
• Blood sugar regulation
• Antioxidants

In addition, you might see a spike in fatigue resistance like cordyceps, but also get some natural relaxers that help with soothing the body and calming the mind. Together, each of these components can create a much calmer, more at peace state, which inspired our two main mushroom gummies that use reishi mushrooms.

At Troomy, we've finely-tuned reishi blends for our Calm and Sleep gummies. These gummies have strong functional value for each of their target areas, and are excellent ways to get started with reishi mushrooms in your diet. If you still have some questions about the mushrooms we use and what makes them strong foundationally, you can learn a bit more from our Meet Our Mushrooms page here!

How Can I Cook with These Mushrooms Best?

Depends on the types of recipes you're looking for, how much time you want to put into them, and the variety of mushrooms that standout to you for their health support and nutritional benefits.

Pastas, Soups

For most, these are the go-to choices. Extremely easy to make and with minimal prep-time, you can get reishi, lion's mane, shiitake, or all kinds of mushrooms into your meals fast with pastas and soups.

Shakes and Juices

If you're already on the fitness grind, these are just another supplement you can jumpstart in your shakes, or juicing routine. Toss any variety of mushrooms in your blender at stronger serving sizes, and you can have plant-based power for your next workout in minutes.

Mushroom Gummies

Aside from these primary areas for you to try cooking with mushrooms, you can also just get them in their quickest, longest lasting, and delicious form: gummies.

Now we're not talking something you'll find in a candy shop. Just plant-based blends of mushrooms that use only natural ingredients to power your day. No caffeine additives, or processed sugars.

On top of these main features, mushroom gummies become industry leaders with a whole bunch of added benefits.

What Sets Mushroom Gummies Apart?

Great Value

Two months worth of gummies for the price of what you'd usually get in mushrooms for just a week. That's what sets mushroom gummies apart instantly, and also can save you time. 

Think about the prep work it takes for you to have mushrooms ready to go in a new recipe. Picking out quality ones at a store or online, finding the prep time for new meals you wanna try, and actually making the food? You don't want supplements in your diet eating up time, and that's another strong route in how mushroom gummies provide great value.

Zero Caffeine, No Artificial Sugars

Imagine your day without coffee, tea, energy drinks, or however you get caffeine today. You think you'd crash hard, right? Fortunately, mushroom gummies with zero caffeine in your morning and daily routine allows you to use naturally-powered energy to get through with zero risk of a crash in the afternoon or feeling sluggish after work.

Now on top of caffeine, sugar crashes are even worse. Not having any added sugars is a great way to stay feeling your best as you get more consistent with adaptogenic mushrooms. Remember, though, one gummy won't be enough for everyone to get through their day. Just making small adjustments around how your body reacts to the gummies is important, and will keep you on track with your daily nutrition to avoid slowing down towards the end of the day.

Customized to Your Needs

Getting vitamins into your day regularly is great, but imagine if they're completely customized around daily function rather than just nutrients. Troomy gummies have been finely tuned to accomplish just that, and take on five different areas of your daily routine.

Luckily, it's easier than ever to get started.

Get Started with Troomy Today! 

Overall, there's a ton of mushrooms you can get into your diet today to help you get to a healthier, more consistent daily routine. Try cooking with some of them using recipes you can find here, or cut the prep time and cost with a highly-efficient, delicious, and nutritious gummy. Our starting five lineup you can find here is shaped around improving your sleep, elevating your energy, reducing stress, and more.

 Don't wait to find your "True Me," get started with Troomy Nootropics today!