A Humble Start

The Beginning of Real Mushrooms

Real Mushrooms was created to emphasize the fact that our products are solely made from mushrooms. We emphasize the term “Real” as I’ll explain in more detail further down, because many so-called “mushroom” products do not contain mushrooms.

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My Mentor

Real Mushrooms came into existence through long discussions with my father, Jeff Chilton, founder of Nammex, the leading supplier of organic mushroom extract ingredients to supplement companies. All of our organic mushroom extracts come from Nammex.

Jeff is an instrumental figure in the creation of the now booming medicinal mushroom product category. With over 40 years of mushroom growing experience, he was one of the first to bring mushroom extracts to the North American market and organized the first organic mushroom growers workshop in China back in 1996. He was then one of the first to bring organic mushroom extracts to the North American market.

Mushroom Products

With No Mushrooms...

Through my discussions with Jeff, I learned that the functional mushroom marketplace was dominated by products that did not contain any mushrooms. These products are produced from mycelium (the root system of the mushroom) being grown on a grain substrate.

Mycellium growing on grain

Commonly marketed as “mushroom” yet they contain no mushrooms at all. On top of that, the grain is not separated from the mycelium so these products are primarily the grain that the mycelium is growing on.

Close-up image of unprocessed, whole grain wheat berries with a natural brown color and a slightly shiny appearance.

Mycellium growing on grain

Many consumers and even health practitioners are being misled into believing they are consuming mushrooms when in fact the products are nothing more than mycelium cultured grain, much like the food product Tempeh.

Tempeh: cooked soy beans cultured with a fungus.

Very few of the important medicinal compounds found in functional mushrooms are contained in these products since the bulk of the product is grain.

Our Mushroom Origins

An Opportunity…

With this knowledge, I saw an opportunity to develop a product line based on the mushroom itself. My goal was to educate the public on how functional mushrooms are grown, what to look for in a mushroom product and ensure that our products were consistent with the scientific research.

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A man crouching in front of a tent full of mushrooms.

Transparency

All of our mushrooms are grown and sourced in China. We take great pride working with our Chinese partners and bringing the highest quality extracts to you. China has a rich history of mushroom use and is the birthplace of mushroom cultivation, beginning as early as the 12th century. It is one of the only places you can cultivate, and extract organic mushroom extract powders for supplement use at scale. China also produces over 95% of the world’s mushrooms, has the most mushroom researchers of any country and uses mushroom growing to help small communities out of poverty.

All products are tested for heavy metals, pesticides, microorganisms and active compounds. We continually work with our exclusive partners to bring the highest quality functional mushrooms into our Real Mushrooms products.

Organic reishi farm in China

Two people standing in front of large traditional Chinese statues holding fans in a park.

Real Mushrooms founder Skye Chilton (right) and his master mushroom-cultivator father, Jeff Chilton, stand before the statues of two of China’s most esteemed ancient emperors, Yan and Huang. The emperors are depicted holding reishi, a signal of how revered this mushroom has been in Chinese culture.

Mushroom Growing Economics

I say China is one of the only places because it is not economically feasible to grow mushrooms for supplements in North America. I wish this were an option but it is not. The mushroom growing economics do not work for supplements. This is why “U.S. Grown” products are made from grain based mycelium and not mushrooms.

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100% Mushrooms

Our Guarantee

Real Mushrooms is driven by the desire to deliver the best possible functional mushrooms extracts in their purest form, without any carriers or grain fillers.

We strive to make sure our products are analyzed for the important medicinal compounds like beta-glucans and are consistent with the existing body of mushroom research.

This ultimately means that when you try our mushroom products, you will have the best possibility to experience the unique benefits that these mushrooms have to offer.

We hope you enjoy Real Mushrooms as much as we do.

Who we are: A plane soaring through a black sky.

Real Mushrooms. Real Quality.

Your trusted source for functional mushroom extracts.

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