Sharing is caring!

The days of eating regular old portobello and shiitake mushrooms are over because lion’s mane mushrooms are taking the culinary world by storm. These unique mushrooms are beautiful to look at, offer people incredible health benefits, and contribute to your diet in delicious and healthy ways.

If you’ve ever seen a lion’s mane mushroom in a store, you might feel dissuaded by the thought of eating something that looks quite different from the other types of mushrooms that you usually eat. However, we’re here to tell you how to incorporate lion’s mane mushrooms into your diet with a few simple recipes!

In this article, we’ll walk you through a detailed explanation of what a lion’s mane mushroom is, its benefits, how to clean and store it, and finally, how to cook it! 

Let’s take a closer look. 

What is a lion’s mane mushroom?

The lion’s mane mushroom, or Hericium Erinaceus, is a type of edible mushroom. In addition to its scientific name, it’s also called the mountain-priest mushroom or bearded tooth fungus. 

It belongs to a group of fungi generically known as tooth fungus! The various mushrooms belonging to the tooth fungus group generally produce spores on their bodies that resemble spines or teeth, and that’s where they get their name from. 

You can find lion’s mane mushroom in multiple parts of Asia, Europe, and North America! They typically grow on hardwood trees in prominent clumps that have dangling spines. If you ever go hiking in the woods and see what looks like a white beard on a tree, there’s a good chance that you’ve stumbled across a lion’s mane mushroom clump. 

Benefits of lion’s mane mushroom

Like many of its fungal counterparts, these mushrooms offer humans health and culinary benefits in various parts of the world. 

Here is a list of some of the lion’s mane mushroom benefits. 

It can help with depression and anxiety.

Studies have shown that it can help relieve the chronic inflammation that often occurs in patients struggling with depression and anxiety. A study conducted in 2015 discovered that, after testing the effects of the mushroom on laboratory lice, the lion’s mane mushrooms contain anti-inflammatory properties that reduced the symptoms of depression and anxiety in the mice. 

In 2018, another study supported the 2015 findings, concluding that the lion’s mane mushrooms contain properties that could help with anxiety and depression. Please note that these studies were conducted on mice and not humans. 

Additional studies have deduced that extracts containing lion’s mane mushrooms also help improve brain functions, specifically in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that processes emotional responses and memory. 

It helps with gut health.

Taking care of your gut is extremely important, no matter how old you are or whether you have any preexisting health conditions! One of the most exciting benefits of lion’s mane mushrooms is that they can help prevent ulcers from developing in your gut, or, more specifically, in your intestines or stomach. 

Gut ulcers often develop because there is a bacterial overgrowth in the stomach. Studies have since discovered that consuming an extract containing lion’s mane mushrooms prevents bacterial overgrowth. However, it is essential to note that the studies on stomach bacteria were conducted in test tubes, not human subjects. Still, this knowledge gives us hope for pharmaceutical companies to create life-changing drugs in the future! 

It is a good source of food for vegans.

If you are someone who eats plant-based foods for personal or health reasons, then mushrooms of any sort are an excellent source of protein. Lion’s mane mushrooms contain reasonable amounts of protein, iron, and potassium, which means that your diet doesn’t lack the essential nutrients it needs to live a healthy and balanced life. Many vegans and vegetarians often treat mushrooms as a meat substitute. 

How to Store & Clean Lion’s Mane Mushrooms?

Washing any kind of vegetable or fungus is essential, and lion’s mane mushrooms are no different, mainly if you harvest them yourself and they are covered with dirt and grime! However, it’s important to note that these mushrooms are highly absorbent, which means that you must take care when cleaning them. 

Here is how you clean lion’s mane mushrooms: 

1. Tear the mushrooms into smaller pieces before cleaning them. This makes it easier to remove dirt. 
2. Using a paper towel, small cleaning brush, or your hands, brush away as much dirt as possible.
3. Depending on where you sourced them from, they might already have a lot of moisture. Therefore, if you feel they have too much moisture, wring them out over your sink. 
4. If you find the mushrooms clean enough after brushing away the dirt, you can quickly rinse their outsides under a slow-running tap. These mushrooms are incredibly sensitive to moisture, meaning that they tend to absorb large amounts of liquid in a short time. 
5. After rinsing the mushrooms, you will probably find that they have a lot of moisture in them again. Wring them out, and lay them on fresh paper towels to dry before cooking or storing them. 

A helpful tip that I’ve learned over time is to clean and prep your lion’s mane mushrooms ahead of time before cooking them. This is so that you give the mushrooms enough time to dry completely. 

Once you’ve cleaned the mushrooms, the next step is deciding how to store them. If you aren’t going to cook them immediately, you can choose from a few different storage methods, depending on when you want to consume them. Please note that even though you can store these mushrooms in various ways, it’s best to eat them quickly because they do not hold well in the fridge for three or four days. 

Here’s how you store lion’s mane mushrooms:

1. Cut the mushrooms into small or bite-sized pieces. 
2. Store only eight to ten pieces in a clean paper bag. It’s best not to crowd the mushrooms in the paper bag because they will release moisture in the fridge. In turn, the other mushrooms will start to absorb the trapped moisture, making cooking them later a challenge. 
3. Make sure you store the mushrooms in your crisper drawer because the drawer’s temperature will help them retain their freshness for much longer. 
4. If you want to freeze the mushrooms, you need to cook them first. You can either saute them in a neutral oil or blanche them and then store them in a freezer-safe container for as long as you need. 
5. When storing the mushrooms in a freezer, it’s best to keep them in an airtight container to prevent any freezer burn or excess moisture from seeping in. This helps the mushrooms retain their flavor and freshness better for extended periods. 

How to cook lion’s mane mushrooms?

It is pretty similar to oyster mushrooms because it has the same meaty quality that gives oyster mushrooms their body and flavor. 

If you aren’t an experienced home cook or you feel uncertain about cooking lion’s mane mushrooms for the first time, the best thing to do is the following:

• Cut the mushrooms into easily biteable pieces. 
• Saute them in a pan without oil. This step is crucial because the mushrooms will release water first, so you must let them sweat for a while! 
• Once the water from the mushrooms releases and evaporates, watch for their edges to turn brown. 
• After the edges of the mushrooms turn brown, add a tablespoon of neutral oil or butter, and toss them in the pan until they get coated evenly. 
• Once the lion’s mane mushrooms are evenly coated, cook them in the pan until they are golden brown and tender. 
• Take them off the heat immediately so that they don’t overcook.

Ways to Serve this lion’s mane mushroom recipe

The recipe mentioned above is relatively simple because it is nothing more than sauteed mushrooms, which means you can go wild with serving them! 

You can serve them with steak, wild rice, steamed vegetables, or even sourdough bread. If you want to keep things simple, you can scramble a couple of eggs and top them with lion’s mane mushrooms and some pepper. 

When it comes to mushrooms, the opportunities are endless. 

Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Recipe

Here is another quick recipe for lion’s mane mushrooms.

Lion's Mane Mushroom Recipe

Yield: 2

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

The days of eating regular old portobello and shiitake mushrooms are over because lion’s mane mushrooms are taking the culinary world by storm. These unique mushrooms are beautiful to look at, offer people incredible health benefits, and contribute to your diet in delicious and healthy ways.

Print

Ingredients

• 500 grams of lion’s mane mushrooms
• 2-4 tablespoons of flour
• 3-5 tablespoons of water
• Enough cooking oil to shallow fry
• 1.5 tablespoons of cumin powder
• ¾ table tablespoons of cumin seeds
• 1.5 tablespoons of chili powder or chili flakes
• 1.5 tablespoons of sesame seeds (optional)
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Before cleaning your mushrooms, set a large pot to boil. Make sure that the water is salted well, but not too much. 
2. Clean the mushrooms gently, getting rid of any excess dirt. 
3. Cut the mushrooms into small, bite-sized pieces using a sharp knife. If you don’t have a knife, you can use your hands to tear the mushrooms. 
4. Drop the mushrooms into the boiling water and cook them for two and a half minutes. 
5. After the time is up, drain them and space them out on several paper towels to dry. 
6. In a clean bowl, combine the flour and water. 
7. Whisk the flour and water until a runny and pourable batter forms, then set aside. 
8. Combine the spices separately, then drop the mushrooms in the spice mix. 
9. Using your hands, coat each piece with the spice mix. 
10. Add the thin batter and all the ingredients together to coat. 
11. Load a few pieces of the mushrooms onto wooden skewers, and then shallow fry them in a frying pan on medium-low heat. 
12. When the batter coating the mushrooms turns golden, flip the skewers and fry until they are evenly cooked. 
13. Hit the skewers with a bit of salt when they are hot, then serve with a dipping sauce. 

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 2 Serving Size: 2
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 78Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 302mgCarbohydrates: 4gNet Carbohydrates: 7gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 4g

• Nutritions 

These mushrooms have 35 calories per 100g. They have 7g of carbs and less than 3g of protein. 

Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Cooking Tips

When cooking these mushrooms, it’s important to remember that less is more! These mushrooms have a unique flavor that is not unlike crab or lobster meat when it is raw. However, after it is cooked, its flavor changes and becomes slightly more subtle. 

Summary

In this article, I walked you through a couple of lion’s mane mushroom recipes, how to clean and store these mushrooms, and the various benefits they offer. The next time you want to try a new ingredient, you know what to choose!

Ava Jones

Hey welcome to my blog . I am a modern women who love to share any tips on lifestyle, health, travel. Hope you join me in this journey!

Sharing is caring!