GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

384 GROWTH PARAMETERS
Recommended Containers for Fruiting: Polypropylene bags for indoor cultivation. Trench culture
outdoors can be framed with
non-chemically treated boards around the root zones of candidate trees
and protected with shade clothed, covered hoop-frames.
Yield Potentials: Not known. The natural model developed by the Chinese first yields sclerotia as the
primary product, and secondarily mushrooms which are more often used for food than for medicinal
purposes. In liquid culture, I have achieved a 6% yield (d.w.Id.w.) of dry mycelium from a malt yeast
slurry. Yield efficienciesof sclerotia and mushrooms from Chinese Zhu Ling tree nurseries (a.k.a.
"Hog Tuber Farms") are not known to this author.
Form of Product Sold to Market: Scierotia are exported from China, either whole or sliced, and in
dried form. (Packages of Zhu Ling often have a picture of Reishi on the label!) The fresh fruitbodies
are sold in markets in China. Currently, there are no producers of this mushroom in North America.
Nutritional Content: Protein: 8%; coarse fiber: 47%; carbohydrate: .5%; and ash: 7%. The sclerotia,
with its woody texture, is likely to have substantially more polysaccharides and less protein than the
fleshy fruitbody.
Medicinal Properties: This mushroom has been heralded to possess potent anti-cancer, immunopotentiating
properties. However, few scientific studies have been conducted, and none by Western
researchers. During a visit to the Beijing Institute of Materia Medica in October of 1983, Dr. Andrew
Weil, Dr. Emanuel Salzman, Gary
Lincoff and myself were informed by excited researchers that water
extracts (tea) of this mushroom, when given to lung cancer patients after radiation therapy,
resulted in complete recovery in the majority of the patients after several years. The quality of life of
the patients dramatically improved, characterized by increased appetites, absence of malaise, etc.
The majority of those patients not given Zhu Ling died. I do not know if this study was ever published.
In a separate study, Chang Jung-lieh (1983) presented results on the strong inhibitory effects Zhu
Ling had on sarcoma 180 tumors
implanted in mice. Taken orally or intravenously, Zhu Ling has been
widely used as a traditional drug
for preventing the spread of lung cancer. Modern day treatments using
Zhu Ling often accompany radiation therapy. A juried paper, presented by Han (1988) in the
Journal of EthnopharmacOlOgY,
reported that mice, when implanted with sarcoma 180 were given a
dose of 1 mg. of Thu Ling per kilogram of body weight, tumors were reduced by 50% compared to the
controls.Ying (1987) reported 70% reduction of tumor weight in mice. Miyaski (1983) also noted the
anti-sarcoma properties of this fungus. Dr. Andrew Weil (1992) strongly believes this species deserves
greater attention by Western medical practitioners. I have sent specimens (sclerotia) to the U.S.
National Cancer Institute for testing in their AIDS and cancer screening programs and, at the time of
this writing, am awaiting results. They have expressed extreme interest in all higher fungi which undergo
a scierotial stage.
According to Bo &Yun-sun (1980,
pp.195), Chinese physicians are usingextracts of the Thu Ling
scierotia in the treatment of "lung cancer, cervix cancer, esophagus cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer,
intestine cancer, leukemia, mammary gland cancer and lymphosarcoma."
Flavor, Preparation & Cooking: The fleshy, above-ground mushroom is easily broken or chopped,
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