Yes our products are sourced from certified organic farms, and are processed in certified organic extraction facilities.

Why is this important?
Being certified organic means you have a supply chain that is overseen by a highly trusted third party to ensure all goods are free from Chemicals, GMO's, preservatives, pesticides, heavy metals and any other unnatural contaminants. All our suppliers pass rigorous quality control points, testing and annual audits. Certified Organic products are products that you can truely trust and have confidence in. Our farmers are all certified under the USDA certification program.

Yes. Our products are sourced from Dao Di locations when possible and when they exist. Only a selection (274) of Chinese herbs have documented Dao Di locations, other herbs do not fall under this traditional quality guideline. 

Why is this important?
Dao Di means 'authentic source'. In Traditional Chinese medicine locations where documented which where shown to be most desirable for sourcing individual herbs from. Herbs from these regions are said to be of preferable quality. About 1/3 of herbs in the Chinese Pharmacopeia have preferred Dao Di sourcing locations. 

Sourcing Dao Di is not a substitute for Organic Certified supply chain. 

 Absolutely not. Equating organic with lab grown product is a myth that has been perpetuated by brands who do not have an organic supply chain. Our herbs are grown on farms, often in Semi Wild conditions and some products are sustainably wild harvested, like our Siberian Chaga. Organic products have a high degree of transparency and oversight in the supply chain and are usually superior to non organic products. Organic does not equal lab grown. 

Beta-D-Glucan testing combined with Alpha Glucan testing and solubility testing can give a useful indication of a mushroom extracts potency and purity. Beta-D-Glucan testing is only useful when combined with these other quality parameters.

When is Beta-D-Glucan testing not useful?

On its own Beta-D-Glucan testing can not be used to give an indication of potency, although many brands attempt to use it this way. Why? Mushrooms contains lots of insoluble fibre called 'Chitin', this Chitin is insoluble and not bioavailable yet it is also high in Beta-D-Glucans, for this reason mushrooms with a low extract ratio may have a high Beta-D-Glucan content, they will be much more insoluble however, so solubility combined with Beta-D-Glucan testing is a useful indicator. Our products are 100% soluble with 20% or more Beta-D-Glucans. 

Yes. Our herbs are independently tested at Eurofins labs. We test for heavy metal, pesticides, moulds, radioactivity and other chemicals. In total over 250 items are tested for. We do not sell herbs that test positive for harmful contaminants. 

Our products have an indicative extraction ratio listed on the label. For our Reishi this is 16:1. This means that 16 kg of dried herb was used to create 1kg of medicinal extract. Extraction ratio combined with other quality testing like Beta-D-Glucan testing is useful in ascertaining a products potency. Our products are all very potent and concentrated extracts.

 During extraction insoluble fibre is removed from the plant or fungi. Mushrooms are very woody and contain a lot of fibre called chitin, this fibre is what is removed during extraction. Plants that are less fibrous will have lower extraction ratios, for example Schisandra typically has a 4:1 extraction ratio or lower. Reishi is very fibrous and has an extraction Ratio of 16:1, Reishi with a  lower extraction ratio will likely contain insoluble fibre.

Medicinal Mushrooms contain many medicinally active compounds that are bound into the insoluble fibre of the plant, this fibre is called chitin and is similar in structure to prawn shells. Without extraction these compounds are not bioavailable to humans, so extraction is a must. Some herbs do not require extraction however many plants are benefitted by being extracted, concentrating the medicinal compounds.

Dual extraction uses a combination of water extraction, followed by a step extracting using organic alcohol. Water extraction is useful at liberating water soluble compounds whilst alcohol extraction is useful at liberating fat soluble compounds. For herbs in which the water and fat soluble compounds are required Dual Extraction is preferred. this is the case with medicinal mushrooms but not all herbs. If herbs have had Dual extraction it is important to test water soluble compounds as these are sometimes damaged during alcohol extraction. This is one reason we do Beta-D-Glucan testing. 

Yes. Our products are full spectrum herbal extracts that contain the full array of compounds found naturally in the herbs. Although we test for Beta-D-Glucans and other medicinal compounds we are not isolating these compounds and concentrating them, they are at levels found naturally after our extraction process.

Our Chaga comes from reserves in the Siberian Wilderness. This area is 13 million square Kilometers, about 1.75 times the size of Australia! (not a typo). The Russian government has done a survey on this area and estimated that Chaga sourced from this area is almost inexhaustible. To read the full report follow this link.

Click here for Sustainability Report...

Knowing the growth substrate is important when sourcing medicinal mushrooms. Medicinal mushrooms turn the growth substrate into secondary metabolite that are beneficial to humans, a mushrooms capacity to do this depends largely on what they are grown on. Most mushrooms require a hardwood growth substrate for this, Chaga requires living Birch trees and wild Cordyceps requires living caterpillars (don't worry we do not source wild Cordyceps).