How to Take Mushrooms

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Eating hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms (also known as “shrooms” or, if you’re from 1968, “magic mushrooms”) can open your consciousness to the limitless wonders of the universe, make your Sunday afternoon extra colorful, or send you sliding into a despair deeper than you ever knew existed.

The difference between a good mushroom experience and a bad mushroom experience can come down to knowing what you’re doing and taking a little time to prepare. (To be clear, I'm not talking micro-dosing here; this advice is strictly for macro-doses.)

What are shrooms?

“Shrooms” is short for “mushrooms,” and is slang long used to describe those varieties of the fungus that contain Psilocybin, a psychoactive chemical that can produce euphoria, hallucinations, and laughing a lot. Psilocybin can also cause panic attacks, visions of hellfire, and nausea.

There’s a belief among many in the “psychedelic world” that mushrooms are not a party drug. To these folks, trips should be about personal growth or deeply religious experiences—serious business. While I hate this kind of self-righteous gatekeeping (mushrooms can too be a party drug), there’s a germ of truth to the idea, and a reason shrooms are so often used in mental health counseling. Mushroom trips are generally not escapist, and the drug might not make you feel good or confident. There are other drugs for that.

Are magic mushrooms legal?

Unless you live in certain cities that have legalized them, buying, selling, and consuming some varieties mushrooms is likely illegal in your area, and you should respect The State’s decisions about the kinds of things you’re allowed to do in your own home for your own reasons.

That said, you might not particularly care if they are legal, since you’re probably not going to get caught, provided you take them under safe, controlled conditions. Seriously: Don’t take mushrooms if you don’t know what you’re doing. Start small and eat a little at a time. You can always take more later, but once you eat them, you can’t take less.

How to have a good mushroom trip

Most mushroom trips are good for most folks—people wouldn’t do it if it was usually terrible—but bad trips do happen. Luckily there are time-tested ways increase the chances of a nice afternoon and decrease the chances of a waking nightmare that lasts for six hours.

The importance of “set” and “setting”

According to the ancient wisdom passed down from OG-heads of the 1960s, the two pillars of positive psychedelic drug experiences are “set” and “setting.” Set refers to your mindset—what you’re bringing to the experience—and setting is the location, environment, and the people you’re with.

Why “set” matters: Unlike some kinds of drugs, mushrooms don’t necessarily make you happy. They might, but you can’t count on it, so if you’re particularly depressed, anxious, or unhappy, it may not be the best day to eat mushrooms (unless you’re prepared for the drug to amplify your bad mood.) Generally a more positive mindset will result in a more positive experience, so walk into the drug party with confidence, flexibility, and openness. But remember: You’re not the boss of mushrooms.

“Set” also refers to your expectations for the experience you’re about to have. Your expectations might be wrong, but they will affect the trip you have. If you take shrooms because you want to get really fucked up and party, you might laugh a lot with your friends and really get into that band you’re seeing, but you might have a deeply religious experience instead. It's good to have a flexible mindset, and be prepared to roll with what happens.

Why “setting” matters: Setting is less woo-woo than set. It refers to the location where you’re taking drugs, the people you’re taking them with, and the emotional environment—the vibe. The ideal setting is entirely based on the individual. I like taking mushrooms in a private, semi-natural setting, among old friends who care for each other and are experienced at doing drugs. Some people like doing shrooms at a festival with first-timers, or by themselves while playing video games, or in a therapists’ office with an experienced psychedelic “guide.” The important thing is to be somewhere you feel positive, around people you like and trust, even if they’re like-minded strangers.

How to make mushrooms taste better

Shrooms are awesome, but they do not taste awesome. I’m not saying they’re the worst-tasting thing ever, but magic mushrooms are dry and chewy, with a distinct earthy flavor that people describe as tasting like feet, like dirt, or shit.

I used to be a proponent of the popular “just eat them, man, damn,” school. A standard dose of mushrooms is only about 1 or 2 grams (give or take) so it only takes a little courage to chew ‘em up, choke ‘em down, and chase it with a strong-tasting beverage-of-choice. But there is a better way, a solution that requires almost no effort, and is more dignified than “forcing yourself,” but not frou-frou like this recipe for “hallucinogenic mushroom fricandó.”

The best way to eat magic mushrooms is to combine them with those little plastic vats of marinated mushroom salad from the deli section of your local supermarket. It’s effortless and inexpensive, and the combination of olive oil, vinegar, spices, and good-tasting mushrooms actually complements the dirty flavor of your golden teachers or flying saucers, rendering them somewhere between “edible” and “kind of good actually,” depending on your tastes.

A step-by-step guide to making magic mushrooms delicious (or at least palatable)

Supplies:

A container of supermarket marinated mushrooms. Unless you’re having a huge party, you won’t need much. A half-pint will do for most situations.

Ramekins or small bowls

Dried psilocybin mushrooms

Process:

Fill a ramekin or small bowl with marinated mushrooms for each of your guests. Creating an individual drug-infused amuse bouche for each psychonaut lets everyone control their own dosages, and it doesn’t infect the rest of the mushroom salad—you don’t anyone inadvertently tripping later.

Crumble up the the magic mushrooms and drop them in. Make sure they’re covered in the juices and stir it around a little.

Wait. You could give it 24 hours or so to really let the mushroom re-hydrate, or you could just wait a few minutes—long enough to put on Stevie Wonders Innervisions and grin at your friends with that distinctive “We’re all going to be tripping on mushrooms soon!” expression.

Eat it with a fork or spoon.

Why you shouldn’t cook a meal with magic mushrooms

I don’t want to judge anyone else’s lifestyle, but I’ve never understood the appeal of making a full meal with psilocybin mushrooms. First, there’s the possibility that applying heat to mushrooms makes them less potent—there’s a debate about whether this is actually true, but why risk it? Even if cooking doesn’t affect the potency of shrooms, preparing something like this “Creamy Garlic Shroom Pasta” is still a bad idea. It calls for the mushrooms to be powdered or finely chopped and that takes work, and it makes the already imprecise art of controlling how much you take even more difficult. Someone is going to eat a bigger-than-average portion, right?

More importantly, eating a cream-based pasta meal or anything heavy before a mushroom trip generally isn’t recommended. You want to keep pre-trip meals light—maybe some fruits and vegetables, but that’s about it.

If you really can’t stand the taste of mushrooms, and even a bath in vinegar and olive oil doesn’t help, you could grind dried mushrooms into a fine powder, buy a capsule machine, and make capsules to swallow. But this is a lot of effort so maybe you just need a hobby?