How mushroom extracts are made: water, alcohol, temperature and time

A mushroom extract is made by holding mushroom material in a solvent such as water or alcohol, then separating the liquid and drying it. Temperature and time are the two settings every maker chooses. At Human Pro we extract on our farm in Flevoland, the Netherlands, with water and alcohol together and never above 38 °C.

This article explains each step in general terms. Then it shows how we do it and what our batch certificates measure afterwards. Our Lion's Mane capsules serve as one worked example: each capsule holds 420 mg of extract made from the fruiting body.

Contents

1. How are mushroom extracts made?
2. What are the main mushroom extraction methods?
3. What is the difference between hot water and alcohol extraction?
4. How do we make our mushroom extracts?
5. How are temperature and time set in mushroom extraction?
6. What do we measure in the finished extract?
7. How can you tell from a label how an extract was made?

How are mushroom extracts made?

Mushroom extracts are made in four steps: prepare the mushroom material, hold it in a solvent, separate the liquid from the solids, then dry it. The solvent is water, alcohol or both together. What changes from one maker to the next is the part used, the solvent, the temperature and the time.

1. Prepare. The maker chooses the part of the mushroom, such as the fruiting body, and readies it for the solvent.
2. Extract. The material sits in the solvent for a set time at a set temperature, and part of it dissolves.
3. Separate. The liquid is separated from what did not dissolve.
4. Dry. The solvent is removed and what dissolved is dried to a powder for capsules. A tincture skips this step and stays liquid.

EU law has its own definition of the solvent in step 2. An extraction solvent is used during processing and then removed, although technically unavoidable residues may remain (Directive 2009/32/EC, Article 1). Ethanol is listed in Annex I of that directive, and Article 2(3) covers water.

That definition explains why an alcohol extract has a residual ethanol figure on its certificate. The alcohol is meant to come out. The certificate shows how much is left.

What are the main mushroom extraction methods?

The main mushroom extraction methods differ by solvent: water, alcohol (ethanol), or both. When both solvents are used, a maker can run them one after the other and combine the two extracts, or use them together in a single run. Each method also has its own temperature and time, set by the maker.

Method	Solvent	Temperature and time	What the seller should state
Water extraction	Water, often heated	Set by the maker	Part used, temperature, time
Alcohol extraction	Ethanol, often mixed with water	Set by the maker	Part used, temperature, time, residual ethanol on the certificate
Water, then alcohol	Two runs, combined afterwards	Set by the maker for each run	Both runs and how they were combined
Water and alcohol together	Both solvents at the same time	Set by the maker	Part used, temperature, time (this is our method, described below)

Source: general description of food extraction; Directive 2009/32/EC for the solvents.

Shops often sell the two-run method under a short name of its own, and that name is a common search. A name is not a specification, though.

The settings tell you how an extract was made. A batch certificate tells you what ended up in it.

What is the difference between hot water and alcohol extraction?

Hot water extraction and alcohol extraction differ in the solvent and in the temperature. Hot water extraction uses only heated water, while alcohol extraction uses ethanol, which must then be removed from the finished extract. A label or product page should name the solvent.

For a buyer, the difference shows up on paper in a few places.

• Removal: water leaves the extract when it is dried. Ethanol has to leave too, and the residual ethanol in the powder is a measured value on the certificate.
• Moisture: both routes end with a dried powder, so the moisture figure, listed as loss on drying, applies to either.
• Wording: if a label only says "extract", ask the seller which solvent was used.

The only results we publish are those of our own batches.

How do we make our mushroom extracts?

We make our Lion's Mane, Reishi and Chaga extracts on our farm in Flevoland, the Netherlands, with an extraction method we call Kanzen. Kanzen uses water and alcohol together, never above 38 °C, for six weeks. Lion's Mane and Reishi are grown and extracted on the farm.

For Lion's Mane and Reishi, substrate, growing, harvest and extraction happen on one site, by one team. Both extracts are made from the fruiting body. Our head grower, Wouter, spent more than fifteen years learning Japanese growing and extraction methods.

Chaga reaches the farm another way. Chaga is a sclerotium, the dense conk that grows wild on birch in Fennoscandia (northern Finland and Sweden). We buy it raw and extract it on our farm in Flevoland.

We call the result a whole-mushroom extract. In Lion's Mane capsules and Reishi capsules, each capsule holds 420 mg of it, and one serving is 3 capsules.

The extraction page shows each stage of the process on the farm: our extraction method.

How are temperature and time set in mushroom extraction?

Temperature and time set how warm the solvent is and how long the mushroom material stays in it. Every maker chooses both. Ours are a ceiling of 38 °C, with water and alcohol together, and each batch certificate shows what was measured afterwards.

The 38 °C figure is a ceiling for the extraction step only. It says nothing about the other steps on the farm. The substrate the mushrooms grow on, for example, is pasteurised at 110 to 114 °C before growing starts.

Time is the second setting. It is how long the material stays in the solvent before the liquid is separated.

We state our settings and publish the measured results of each batch.

Those results are batch values, not a promise about every pack. The next section shows rows from three certificates. Each row names the batch, the laboratory and the release date.

What do we measure in the finished extract?

How can you tell from a label how an extract was made?

A supplement label shows how an extract was made when it names the mushroom, the part used and the word "extract". The seller should also state the solvent, the temperature and the time, and publish a certificate for the batch. EU law also requires every food supplement label to state the daily portion and a warning not to exceed it.

Check these points on the pack or the product page:

1. The mushroom and the part used. Chaga, for example, is a sclerotium.
2. Whether it says extract or powder. Ground mushroom and extract are different materials, so their milligrams do not compare. Our guide to mushroom capsules, powder, tincture and spray explains why.
3. Which solvent was used.
4. The temperature and the time of the extraction.
5. A batch number on the pack that matches a published certificate.
6. For an alcohol extract, a residual ethanol value on that certificate.

A method name on its own answers none of these questions.

No health claim has been authorised in the EU or in Great Britain for Lion's Mane, so we don't make one. This page explains how we grow, extract and test it.

What to do next

To see how one buying decision works through for a single mushroom, read how to choose a lion's mane supplement. For how long an extract keeps once the pack is open, see storage and shelf life of mushroom supplements.

Already have a pack? Match the LOT on your pack to the Lion's Mane capsules batch reports.

Update history

• 27 October 2026: we rewrote this article in full. It now explains the steps and methods of mushroom extraction, states our extraction settings and shows measurements from three batch certificates.