Posts Tagged ‘Maitake Mushroom’

Maitake Mushroom

April 11th, 2011

Maitake Mushroom

The maitake mushroom is a an interesting looking fungi.  I recently went into the snowy mountains of Japan to visit the company that first discovered how to grow Maitake mushrooms indoors.

I took a few pictures:

Bruce holding a Fresh Maitake Mushroom block 300x225 Maitake Mushroom

Holding a living Maitake Mushroom, still growing on the substrate block

In this photo I am about to harvest this Maitake mushroom, which is bigger than my head.
The white part is the mycelium (roots) of the mushroom totally grown over a trade secret mix of wood chips, sawdust and other food-stuffs that are devoured by Maitake mycelium.
This was really fun for me because I have tried to grow Maitake mushrooms myself in a similar manner. But they alwasy just turned into something looking like a small brain. And never grew to their full mature size.
The worker gave me some plastic gloves and informed me (in Japanese) to grab underneath the mushroom and gently rock it back and forth while pulling up. I could feel a tearing of tissue sensation and then the whole thing popped up.
This nex photo is the AFTER shot:

Freshly picked Maitake mushroom 300x225 Maitake Mushroom

I just picked this massive Maitake mushroom and I'm so proud of my new baby (the mushroom)

 Here you can see that it is removed from the block.
I bought this one for about $10 and took it home. We were eating Maitake recipes for the next three days.
Guaranteed we got our beta glucan optimal doses on those days icon smile Maitake Mushroom
Any other mushroom geeks out there can probably guess how fun an event this was for me.
And for non-geeks, the flavor was delicious!

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Mushroom Maitake – Nature’s Gift of Health And Life

October 19th, 2010


mushroom doc2 Mushroom Maitake Natures Gift of Health And Life
Dr. Maitake says “Make sure you get your dialy dose of Maitake Beta Glucans!”
As a man, whose wife has been surviving stage 3B lung cancer for 4 years with the help of Maitake extracts, I may be a bit biased about this fantastic mushroom.

And “biased” is probably an understatement. I friggin’ LOVE Maitake mushrooms.

First of all, the are delicious. I live in Osaka, Japan, so I can buy a bunch of fresh Maitake at the local grocery store for about $1. My favorite grower is Yukiguni Maitake. Ask your local grocer to stock them.

Here are a few cooking ideas:

  • Put them in miso soup 
  • Stir fry them with other veggies.
  • Chop em’ up and stuff them into gyoza.
  • Add them to your stew or soup. (the maitake beta glucans are hot water soluable, so the soup will be a real immune booster)
  • Mix them into your hamburger mix.
  • Steam them and eat them straight
No matter how you prepare them, they are always yummy.
An important thing to keep in mind is, you should heat or cook them some way. The heat helps to break the mushroom cell walls (made of a hard substance called chitin). Once the cell walls are ruptured by heat, you will be better to digest and absorb all the goodness inside.

A point about digestion. Maitake (Grifola frondosa) contain a lot of dietary fiber. So you don’t actually digest all of it 100%. And as you probably know, dietary fiber is great to clean the pipes.

Another component of Maitake that is not digested is the immune modulating “1-3-, 1-6 beta glucans”.
These are the components that have reiceved international scientific research from Japan to America, for their ability to induce immune potentiating effects. Stimulating some immune cells and signals, while reducing other immune signals. Dr. Nanba, the dicoverer or the anti-cancer maitake extract told me that the extract/fraction influences the Th1/Th2 immune balance. It can stimulate attack cells such as Killer T cells, Natural Killer cells and macrophages. This may be why studies show anti-cancer effects when taking the Maitake extract.

And that may be why my wife is still alive today.

I could blab on and on about Maitake Mushroom.

But it’s probably better if you sign up for the newsletter on the right hand side bar. Then you can get important updates.

 See you there.

Bruce

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Welcome to Mushroom Maitake .com

May 21st, 2010

Hello and welcome to Mushroom Maitake .com

The site entirely devoted to spreading the good word about a delicious mushroom and a ray of golden light for anyone needing an immune boost.

The next series of posts will get into the details of

1. Why Maitake Mushroom is getting popular around the globe as a delicious food.

2. Who discovered the natural cancer treatment from the mushroom maitake.

3. What scientific research findings have been uncovered and what that means in every-day English.

4. How to avoid the low quality supplements and find the real quality products.

Please join our newsletter and get updates and the latest news about the fantastic Maitake mushroom.

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About

May 2nd, 2010

Bruce 227x300 About

Hi there.

I want to thank you for taking the guts to look into the health benefits of Maitake.

I have been studying mushrooms and their health benefits for about 13 years. And after moving to Japan, I have been able to learn a lot more about the fantastic effects of the Maitake Mushroom and its extracts and fractions.

My wife got stage 3B lung cancer, and has been taking a type of Maitake fraction developed in Japan, for the last several years. We believe it helped her to have a strong immune system and avoid infection after surgery.

I was fortunate enough to meet the man who discovered the maitake cancer treatment (unfortunately the name of this fraction has been trademarked by a company in America) so I will say it ends with the word  ”fraction” and begins with one or two letters of the alphabet.  His name is Hiroaki Namba. He is the Dean of Kobe Pharmacuetical Unversity, in Japan. He and his laboratory of professional scientists have been making non-stop discoveries about the immune boosting effects of this maitake fraction for over a decade. The scientific evidence is growing worldwide.

I was so lucky to able to spend a short time in Professor Nanba’s laboratories as an assistant to one of their researchers. During this time, I could see first hand the amazing effects of Maitake on the immune system and on more important health effects. They have researched antimetastatic effects, bone marrow protection and stimulation during chemo, the ablilty to stimulate dendritic cell response and more.

I wrote this blog to help others discover Maitake and spread the word to their friends and family. And to anyone who could benefit from a stronger and more active immune system.

A secondary reason for writing this is to help you avoid the miunderstandings and select the better supplements in the market place. I will recommend only the products which are of the highest quality, safety, and purity.

So please join our Maitake newsletter to get breaking news and other information.

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