Lingzhi / reishi mushroom
The dried woody bracket of the lingzhi or reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum), sold as hard reddish-brown slices. Too tough to eat, it is simmered or double-steamed at length for a bitter-sweet, faintly medicinal broth, customarily mellowed with dried longan and red dates; the spent slices are discarded.
TCM properties
Nature · neutral Flavour · sweet、bitter Meridians · heart、lung、liver、kidney
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy lingzhi is used to calm the spirit, support qi, the heart and the liver, and is traditionally regarded as a fortifying tonic for the soup pot.
Cautions: read first
- Safety criticalIt has an antiplatelet and anticoagulant effect, so anyone on blood-thinning or anticoagulant medication should speak to a doctor first.
- Stop taking it for the week either side of surgery.
- Pregnant women and anyone breastfeeding should check first.
- Do not double-boil it as a tonic while you have a cold or a fever.
- The taste runs sweet and bitter, so it is best paired with dried longan (圓肉) and red dates (紅棗) to round it out.
Preparation
Slice it and give it a light rinse; it stands up to long double-boiling and leaves the soup with a sweet, bitter edge.
Origin
Wild lingzhi from the Changbai Mountains is famous; Mount Tai in Shandong (Taishan red lingzhi) and Longquan in Zhejiang are the bulk cultivated sources. AU supply is specialist herbal retail (reishi slices; extracts and capsules also sold)
Availability in Australia
Herbal shops / specialists
