As most of you know, buying magic mushrooms in the Netherlands is illegal. What is legal, however, is buying and growing your own magic mushrooms. You can do this using a ready-to-use magic mushroom grow kit, but you can also get started on your own with magic mushroom spore prints, pots, and other growing supplies. The most popular way—especially for beginners—is definitely to go with one of these handy grow kits. In most cases, all you need to do is add some water, and in no time at all, you’ll be able to grow a good amount of magic mushrooms.
But what do you do after growing all those mushrooms? For example: a Golden Teacher 1200cc grow kit will quickly yield a hefty batch of 400–600 grams of mushrooms. And you guessed it: you can’t eat that much in one sitting (don’t even try…). So the bottom line is that you need to store your homegrown mushrooms. The best way to do this is by drying them. In this article, we’ll tell you exactly how to do that in different ways, so you can enjoy your harvest for a very long time.
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The importance of drying your magic mushrooms
But why not just put your magic mushrooms in a jar as soon as they’re ready? Well, these mushrooms are at least 90% water. This means they’ll eventually spoil if they aren’t dried. You can compare this to a banana or a dried banana: the latter will last much longer. Once the magic mushrooms are dried (and the water has been removed), they can last for years while retaining their psychedelic effects. In short: there’s no reason not to dry your magic mushrooms—unless you’re planning to eat them all at once with a group of friends.
But there’s another advantage to dried mushrooms. The possibilities are endless. Once dried, they can be used in tea, incorporated into tinctures, or even made into small capsules to start microdosing psilocybin—the active compound in these amazing mushrooms. So dried magic mushrooms aren’t just functional and potent; they’re also incredibly versatile. But of course, you do need to know the best way to handle the magic mushrooms you’ve just grown. Which brings us to…
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Different ways to dry your magic mushrooms
As you’ve read above, the goal of drying your magic mushrooms is to remove all the moisture from the mushrooms, after which they can be stored for years. Below, we’ll tell you about a few methods you can use to dry your magic mushrooms.
Using a food dehydrator
You can find a simple food dehydrator on some websites for as little as 30 euros, but for around 50 euros, you can get a very reliable one. These devices are great for drying all kinds of food, from fruit to meat (for delicious beef jerky) and, of course, mushrooms. When drying your mushrooms, set your food dehydrator to the lowest setting and leave them in for about 12 to 24 hours. Check on them occasionally—the goal is to get your mushrooms as crispy as a cracker. You should be able to break them easily without them bending.
Using desiccants
Another effective method, though in our opinion somewhat less user-friendly, is to use so-called desiccants. This might sound a bit strange, but we’ve all held them in our hands at some point. Those little bags of “salt” in our shoe boxes, bags, or other packaging? That’s silica—highly absorbent beads that soak up water. If you choose to dry your magic mushrooms this way, fill an airtight container with these silica packets. Then cover them with a layer of paper towels and place a piece of cheesecloth on top. Place your pre-dried mushrooms (for example, using a fan) on the cheesecloth and seal the container. The silica packets will then draw the moisture out of the mushrooms.
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Making your own microdose capsules
Now that your magic mushrooms are as dry as the desert in Mexico, you can do all sorts of things with them. You can make tea from them, you can simply eat them, or you can make small doses to start microdosing magic mushrooms. All you need to make your own magic mushroom capsules are the dried mushrooms, empty capsules, a capsule machine, and a glass jar to store the capsules in. You can read more about this here.
In addition to making microdoses of magic mushrooms, you can do much more with these capsules and capsule machines. For example, you can easily make your own herbal capsules with them, and they’re also perfect for people who prefer not to buy ready-made health supplements. With these tools, you can simply make them yourself in no time.
