Well I have posted this before but it was somewhere in the nursery. Thought this info should be in the mushroom section. So here we go : )
Below you will find some info about some research (in 2002) that was conducted upon instruction of the government of The Netherlands (Holland). The purpose was to obtain more data about psilocybine and psilocine content of ‘magic mushrooms’. These mushrooms were sold (legally) in the so called ‘smartshops’ in Holland. The research was part of a project about monitoring and risk assessment.
SAMPLES
Fresh and dried mushrooms were collected twice from smartshops and (the second time) also from a professional mushroom grower (who also grows ‘champignons’, you know the type of white toadstools available at your local supermarket). First time they took 18 samples dry mushrooms from 11 different smartshops. The second time they took 7 fresh samples from 4 different smartshops and 24 fresh samples from the professional grower. Interesting to note is that all the fresh mushrooms collected from smartshops were grown by the (same) professional grower. The types of shrooms he was growing: P.cubensis mexican, P.cubensis thai, Panaeolus cyanescens and P.tampanensis (sclerotia). Samples were taken from different flushes, so to compare. Only P.tampanensis was harvested after just 1 flush (probably because they had to break up the mycelium to harvest the sclerotia.)
METHOD
The fresh mushrooms were cut into little pieces and air dried for 5 days. Psilocybin and psilocin were extracted from dry, ground samples using methanol. For measuring psilocybin and psilocin reversed phase liquid chromatography and UV detection were used. In the original report there are more details about the method used; validation, accuracy, calibration, buffers, fluids etc. Won’t go into that one here.
RESULTS
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS
1) no link between % contents between different flushes
2) psilocybin and psilocin are very stable in sclerotia of P.tampanensis
3) ammount of psilocybin and psilocin in a species of mushroom are roughly the same in fresh compared to dried (if properly dried).
4) % psilocybin and % psilocin can vary greatly between fresh mushrooms of Panaeolus cyanescens (from the prof grower). Sometimes very high psilocybin and (relative) low psilocin, sometimes very high psilocin and very low psilocybin. Also % total psilocin in these fresh mushrooms (collected from grower) showed big variation (0.8 – 2.5). Independent of flush that was picked from. Possibly this variation is the result of moment of plucking or drying-process used.
5) psilocybin and psilocin are less stable in fresh mushrooms. Two fresh mushroom samples (P.cubensis thai and P.cubensis mexican, not in the data) from the grower were stored for 4 weeks before dried and analyzed. Only traces of psilocybin and psilocin were measured. Also the two samples of fresh P.cubensis thai from the smartshop were probably stored (fresh) for too long, since there was little psilocybin and psilocin measured. Storing fresh mushrooms is not advisable, better to dry them asap.
Here you can find the original document:
http://www.lycaeum.org/mv/TMC/021118_paddo.pdf“The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart.” -Nikolai Lenin
I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.