As for the taste, Isokauppila notes that functional mushrooms are very different in taste than culinary mushrooms, like cremini or portobello. "They don't taste mushroomy, but rather they have a bitter, earthy taste, which brings up another important point: people often consider medicinal mushrooms to be a Band-Aid. You can't load your mushroom powder with sugar and white chocolate nibs and expect to see a strengthened immune system.
"Sugar causes inflammation — basically the opposite of what you want the mushrooms to do — so be careful what beverages you opt for," says Jaimie Bailey, nutritionist at NAO Wellness and an instructor at Flywheel.
