A place to discuss the growing, hunting, and the experience of magical fungi.
Love how the article starts:
We’ve all been there. You acquire mushrooms, eat some, and store the rest ...
We sure have.
... and then an hour later go back and eat the ones you put away.
...no? Just me?
They describe this as a “relatively off-the-cuff experiment” without really explaining what that means.
I’ll wait for a more rigorous study.
Someone forgot to put the sample away.
No mention of fridging them so they last longer? I thought that one was pretty common knowledge, I wonder how much of a difference it would make
And vacuum sealed. I have some that are four years old and they are working just fine still.
From my research, psilocybin is best preserved in a dry, sealed container in a cool, dark area. Vacuum sealing is probably ideal to prevent molding.
Too hot or too cold is not good for it, actually. Just above freezing (typical fridge temps) probably doesn't do much for preservation of they are properly dried and and puts them at a higher risk of freezing, which may start the breakdown process.
Heat stability data: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Documents/Stability%20of%20Psilocybin%20and%20Analogs.pdf
(Breakdown starts at 25C)
Getting it too cold probably won't be possible for most people: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2950
(Breakdown starts at -80C)
The interwebs consensus is a storage temperature at just below ~21C/70F.
Personally, I use mason jars stored in a cabinet using several desiccant packs per jar. (The only strain that has degraded on me was a few bulk grows of JMF in gallon ziploc bags with poorly maintained desiccant. JMF ain't that potent anyway.)
I've been storing mazatapec. Vac sealed in a duffle bag and some not vac sealed in a duffle bag. Even the un-vac sealed have been holding their potency. It seems to me the biggest factors are heat and exposure to oxygen. Vac sealed is ideal, but even being stored in a bag that isn't being handled or opened mor than once a year seems to be agreeable.
And anything thrown into the freezer seems to just last.
When I was younger a guy stored them in a briefcase in Vancouver, broken down into grams, and those lost all their potency fast.
All my experienice is anecdotal, but it's served me well over 35 years of dealing with the things: dry, cool, no air flow.
I'll double down on the need for a vacuum sealer after your comments. I forgot that the enemy of just about everything is oxidation. While I have no idea how oxygen effects shrooms, I speculate that it can't be good in many cases.
But yeah, anecdotally, my mason jars have been just fine too. Each strain I have is a unique experience and does slightly change over time. While a mason jar isn't as effective as vacuum sealing for "perfect" storage, I suspect that oxidation (or just age) may alter the other psychedelic compounds found in the mushrooms a little more aggressively. (Just speculation though.)
So the mushroom capsules that I've had in my drawer for 2.5 years probably aren't any good any more?
I have a cookies n' cream shrooms bar that has sat in the fridge for 2 years as well... I completely forgot it was there til this post reminded me lmao