'Shroom Boom

These mushrooms won’t give you a euphoric high, but they’ll do wonders for your well-being

- Doris Lam

Mushrooms can do it all. From adding earthy flavour to a risotto to being the secret ingredient behind Mylo, the new luxury vegan leather alternative, fungi have now found their way into skincare products and health supplements. They promise a long list of nutritional, medicinal and beautifying benefits that sound almost too good to be true—so how did the humble mushroom become the latest buzz ingredient in the wellness world?

Using mushrooms in these spaces is a relatively new concept for Western cultures, but our ancestors here in the East have been reaping their benefits for centuries. During the Korean Goryeo Dynasty (918-1382BC), Wolfiporia extensa was listed as one of the medicinal ingredients sent to the Chinese Song Dynasty, while medicinal mushroom species from different regions of Korea were also recorded during the Joseon Dynasty (AD1454). In China, alchemist Tao Hongjing used the kidney-shaped lingzhi mushroom, also known as reishi, as early as the 5th century.