We know this sounds crazy, but there may be a mushroom that could possibly help save honeybees.

Two scientists are working to find out if a mushroom could actually help halt colony collapse disorder. Watch the video below to get the “buzz.”

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When you get an email from Michael Pollan, you open it.

Ok, well it’s not like I’m receiving personal emails from Pollan (although one can always dream), but when we recently sent out an email with a link to some of his latest work, I was intrigued.

Pollan was sending out a link to his latest article in The New Yorker, The Trip Treatment, in which he takes a look at the new research into psychedelics, specifically the use of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

NYU has been performing research on cancer patients, in its Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study, and with very positive results, which Pollan uses to kick off his article. Pollan wrote in his email, “This might at first seem like a departure from writing about food. But those who have followed my work for some time know I’ve also had a longstanding interest in altered states of consciousness. I wrote about cannabis in “The Botany of Desire” and opium in Harper’s Magazine. For me, these remarkable molecules are part of the same co-evolutionary story, products of nature with the power to change us.”

But while nature may have the power to change us, in terms of being able to research it, in the past few decades, the doors remained closed. “Between 1953 and 1973, the federal government spent four million dollars to fund a hundred and sixteen studies of LSD, involving more than seventeen hundred subjects,” writes Pollan. “Through the mid-nineteen-sixties, psilocybin and LSD were legal and remarkably easy to obtain.” Later in 1970, Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act, prohibiting the use of most psychedelics for any purpose.

Now, those doors are slowly starting to open again, and researchers are looking back into the use of psilocybin for mental health treatment, and there are clinical trials taking place across the country, from NYU to Johns Hopkins to UCLA. The hope is that researchers can use psilocybin to treat not only anxiety, but addiction and depression.

There is certainly a fear that advocating for such research is that the public will assume that psilocybin is a drug that’s safe for use. “The recreational use of psychedelics is famously associated with instances of psychosis, flashback, and suicide,” Pollan explains. “But these adverse effects have not surfaced in the trials of drugs at N.Y.U. and Johns Hopkins. After nearly five hundred administrations of psilocybin, the researchers have reported no serious negative effects.”

But Pollan is quick to point out why this is: “This is perhaps less surprising than it sounds, since volunteers are self-selected, carefully screened and prepared for the experience, and are then guided through it by therapists well trained to manage the episodes of fear and anxiety that many volunteers do report. Apart from the molecules involved, a psychedelic therapy session and a recreational psychedelic experience have very little in common.”

Psilocybin isn’t the only hallucinogen that has been researched lately for its link to mental health benefits. In 2014 a study was published in the Journal of Pharmacology that looked at the benefits of LSD-assisted psychotherapy, in regards to anxiety associated with life-threatening diseases. The researchers concluded, “LSD administered in a medically supervised psychotherapeutic setting can be safe and generate lasting benefits in patients with a life-threatening disease. Explanatory models for the therapeutic effects of LSD warrant further study.”

While mostly associated counterculture, psychedelics have played a role in some of the more mainstream of our cultural role models. Apple CEO Steve Jobs once told a New York Times reporter that “doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life,” prompting LSD inventor Albert Hofmann to write a personal letter to Jobs in 2007 asking for funding for research into psychedelics and mental health treatment.

In a study at Johns Hopkins a few years ago, researchers looked at the effects of psilocybin and long-lasting psychological growth. According to Time, “Fourteen months after participating in the study, 94% of those who received the drug said the experiment was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives; 39% said it was the single most meaningful experience.” Friends and family of the participants also reported that participants were calmer, happier and kinder.

The goal for all of these researchers, whether their research is on addicts or terminally ill patients, is to try to remove the bad reputation that psychedelics have gotten over the past few decades and to build on the promising research that exists.

How will the rest of society respond? That’s a question that remains unanswered.

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Image: János Csongor Kerekes

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Pasta is such a staple dish and an easy go-to when you need a satisfying, crowd-pleasing dinner on the table fast. I love that you can easily customize it with whatever you have on hand, what’s in season, or what you crave that day. This gluten-free pasta recipe is grounding, earthy, and fall-ish, with beans, mushrooms, and kale.      

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms of your choice
1 cup broccoli florets
2 cups chopped kale
1 cup precooked or canned adzuki beans (any other beans would work, too)
1 small can anchovy filets, chopped fine
1 cup uncooked brown rice pasta or quinoa pasta  (penne or fusilli)
¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Directions

Heat a deep pan or skillet, add the olive oil and minced garlic. Sauté for 1  minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. If that happens, start over—burned garlic does not taste good.

Add the chopped onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion turns translucent and soft. Add the mushrooms and broccoli, and sauté for another few minutes. Toss in the kale, cooked beans, and anchovies.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain, saving about ¹/³ cup of starchy cooking water. Finally, toss the pasta and the sautéed vegetables together and add a splash of the cooking water. Combine everything well.

Just before serving, add the basil.

Katrine van Wyk came to New York from Norway as a model. Her personal struggles with food allergies led her to attend the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She is now a wellness expert for MindBodyGreen.com and a certified 200 RYT yoga teacher. Van Wyk helped develop smoothies and juices for Equinox’s juice bars in London and Toronto. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit Katrine online at http://katrinevanwyk.com/. 

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Image: Katrine van Wyk

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Consumers are finally pushing back against wasteful packaging, forcing companies to get creative in a way that’s boosting new, sustainable industries.

The other day my roommate brought home a couple of bacon-wrapped fillets for dinner. When it came time to throw them on the grill, I was shocked to find the meat duo ensconced in a horrible, rigid plastic blister pack. You know, the type normally reserved for electronics that usually results in a lot of swearing and brandishing of a kitchen knife? All for two, teeny little steaks.

Encouragingly, not all manufacturers are content to hand over pounds of unnecessary trash for you to figure out how to recycle. Over the past decade, companies have begun to realize that wasteful packaging is costly, and as consumers become more eco-aware, a strike against their brand. Some, like Dell, Coke, and Puma, are embracing alternative packaging materials that just a few years ago might have seemed like a joke. The result is a drastic reduction in waste, marketing clout, and the invigoration of low-impact industries.

1. Bioplastics and Biodegradable Plastics

The worst thing about petroleum-based plastic products and packaging is that it can take thousands of years to degrade in a landfill, all the while leaching toxic chemicals into the soil and water table. Biodegradable plastics are designed to break down much faster, and, assuming they’re made from friendlier ingredients, do so without poisoning the planet. Biodegradable plastics are susceptible to degradation by microorganisms, which is different from other forms of degradation, such as photo-degradation (from exposure to sunlight) and oxo-degradation (from exposure to high temperature and humidity).

Bioplastic, often confused for biodegradable plastic, is slightly different. Bio-based plastics are made wholly from renewable resources, such as cellulose, vegetable oils, sugar or starch. Wood, corn, potato, wheat, tapioca, and rice are some of the sources of resin for bio-based plastics. Bio-based plastics are not automatically bio-degradable, but can be so designed. This lower-impact material has been embraced by Coke and other beverage brands.

2. Mushroom Packaging

A New York company called Ecovative Design is responsible for re-introducing America to the magic of mushrooms–but not the hallucination-inducing kind. The company “grows” its Mushroom Packaging (pictured, top) using mycelium, a fungal network of threadlike cells. This mycelium grows around agricultural by-products like buckwheat husks, oat hulls, or cotton burrs. In 5 – 7 days, in the dark, with no watering, and no petrochemical inputs, the mycelium envelops the by-products, binding them into a strong and beautiful packaging material. This unique, compostable packaging material is already being used by Dell, Steelcase, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

3. Reuseable Packaging

It’s no accident that ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ come before ‘recycle’ in the list of eco-friendly actions. The most eco-friendly form of packaging is that which never exists in the first place. Puma demonstrated a brilliant application of this concept with its “Clever Little Bag”. The redesigned shoe box has no tissue paper, zero laminated printing, takes up less space than a traditional shoe box, and weighs significantly less when shipping. It’s house in a non-woven satchel that provides a handle for carrying the box home, and can then be reused indefinitely. A friend of mine actually uses hers to carry her mat shoes to kickboxing class, but it could just as easily double as a shopping bag or wine carrier.




Images: ecovative | 17Drew

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This pepper isn’t spicy but it sure brings unique flavors to your palette.

Stuffed peppers are no stranger in traditional cooking, but it usually assumes the role as the filling. Using pasta in a pepper is harder to come by, but it’s a fantastic way to deconstruct flavors and keep serving sizes equal. Rounded with an international touch, this dish just might be my new favorite dinner. Using a whole-wheat pasta, mushrooms, onions, and cherry tomatoes, I put together a hearty vegan stuffed pepper with some Asian inspiration.

Yellow bell peppers carry some serious street credibility. They are a great source of carotenoids, vitamin C, and vitamin E and contain more than twice the amount of vitamin C that is found in the same serving size of orange. The sweet pepper also has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory benefits, protects vision, wards off arthritis, reduces cardiovascular disease, colon cancer and lung cancer, and is used in traditional Chinese medicine as a natural treatment for blood circulation, indigestion, loss of appetite, swelling, frostbite, nausea, vomiting, phlegm and toxicities.

There’s no need for cheese or meat in this dish, because the flavors are bold and the satisfaction level is high. By cooking the peppers before stuffing, there is more continuity in texture, making for an overall warm and comforting meal. Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 large bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cups chopped Crimini mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon nama shoyu (soy sauce)
• 2 cups cooked pasta
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon capers

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare 2 cups of cooked pasta according to package instructions. All pasta types work well!

Slice off the lid of the peppers, making sure to keep the stem intact. Remove the flesh and seeds. Place them in a baking dish. If the peppers won’t stand up on their own, trim the bottoms so they are flat, without making a hole. Place the caps slightly off center so the insides cook as well. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the peppers have softened and the edges have browned.

While the peppers are cooking, prepare the stuffing. In a large saucepan, cook the mushrooms and chopped Crimini mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season with pepper. After a few minutes, add the soy sauce and mix.

When the mushrooms have browned and the onions are translucent, add the halved cherry tomatoes, capers and spinach.

Fold the mushroom mixture into the cooked pasta, which has been drained and rinsed.

Remove the peppers from the oven and stuff each one with an even amount of pasta.

Serve with the cap for presentation’s sake. There’s no proper way to eat it – pick it up and chomp or use a fork and knife. Regardless, with each bite try to get a piece of that pepper!

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Photo Credit: Aylin Erman

The post Recipe: Stuffed Peppers (Rice Need Not Apply) appeared first on EcoSalon.

I first heard about Alejandro “Alex” Velez and Nikhil “Nik” Arora’s plan to grow mushrooms from coffee grounds about two years ago. At the time, I dismissed it as one of those ideas that sounds great as part of a green business contest for graduate students but that would probably get dropped as soon as the lucrative job offers came along.

And, for awhile, that’s essentially what happened. Nik and Alex did the MBA thing, interviewing for jobs in investment banking and consulting and securing offers from great firms. But fast forward a year: I’m meeting Alex in a dodgy parking lot under the freeway overpass in Emeryville to tour the warehouse of Back to the Roots Ventures, his and Nik’s start-up. He drives up in an old beat-up sedan and hops out in jeans and a plaid shirt … not exactly banker garb.

We head into the warehouse and Alex introduces me to their warehouse manager and a young intern who’s busily packing cardboard kits. “We came to a point where the mushroom thing was really taking off and Nik and I decided to go for it,” Alex explains. “We turned down our job offers and became farmers instead.”

Well, sort of. What started as a small agricultural business is now a booming consumer product business: Nik and Alex’s Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden, a do-it-yourself mushroom-growing kit, is currently sold at all Whole Foods around the country. It’s a pretty amazing trajectory for a business that started just over two years ago as a project in the boys’ fraternity kitchen, with a few buckets-full of coffee grounds and some mushroom seeds.

Both MBA students at Berkeley at the time, the two had shared a class focused on potential business uses for the world’s waste products, during which they learned about various uses for coffee grounds. For some reason Alex still can’t quite explain, he and Nik were drawn to the idea of growing mushrooms from the stuff. They began experimenting and eventually managed to grow oyster mushrooms. “We took them over to some people we know at Chez Panisse to have them try them and tell us whether they thought we had something, and they said wow, these are really good.”

That was their first stroke of good luck: Not every MBA student has connections at Chez Panisse. Buoyed by a thumbs-up from that venerable Berkeley slow food institution, the two took their next batch of product to the popular Berkeley Bowl market. “Then the guy at Berkeley Bowl introduced us to the regional buyer for Whole Foods and once they were interested we started to realize this could really become a business,” Alex later told me.

It may sound like a string of amazing coincidences, but it’s partially the pair’s passion for what they’re doing that has managed to get so many other folks on board so quickly. The Whole Foods buyer loved the idea of mushrooms grown from a waste product and soon had Nik and Alex supplying oyster mushrooms to all of the Bay Area’s Whole Foods, and participating in the market’s local producer loan program as well. The problem? It’s tough to make money in mushrooms unless you’re running a major agricultural operation, and the Back to the Roots guys weren’t really interested in that. That’s where the mushroom kit came in.

Packed with about a pound of coffee grounds plus the mushroom seeds, the Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden promises a pound of mushrooms within 10 days. All you have to do is spritz it regularly with the tiny water bottle enclosed in the kit, and keep it out of direct sun. The kit retails for $19.95 and is available at Whole Foods and through the company’s own website. To get coffee grounds they need, the two also inked a deal with Peets, which pays them to pick up over 10,000 pounds a week of grounds, and also sells the kits in some of its shops. Meanwhile, the spent mushroom substrate they’re left with after they make the kits turns out to be an excellent soil amendment, which they’re now selling as well.

Bouncing around aisle after aisle of mushroom kits, Alex is excitedly describing their journey, a tale punctuated often by segues like “Oh! And kids really love the kits, too, and any kid that sends us a photo of them with the kit, we send them a free kit.”

He’s so genuine it’s hard not to get swept up in the excitement, despite the fact that I’m cold and everything smells vaguely mildew-y. And the excitement continues at home, where I’m thrilled to find that even with my minimal gardening skills, the mushrooms were sprouting out of the kit on my counter in days. Sure, I forgot the spritzing half the time, but I still managed to get some nice shrooms out of it, and it’s hard not to feel pretty pleased with yourself when you’re harvesting mushrooms you grew from coffee grounds.

Follow Amy on Twitter @amywestervelt.

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Is the food industry’s foraging addiction fueling the destruction of forests and wetlands? That’s what the United Kingdom’s National Trust and Forestry Commission thinks.

With the support of local-centric chefs like Jamie Oliver, mushroom foraging has gone from simple pastime to foodie obsession, with many restaurants incorporating wild fungi into their menus. Despite putting an emphasis on wild and local food, The National Trust says that this trend is becoming detrimental to some of the UK’s most cherished natural spaces.

In a recent article on illegal mushroom hunting in Epping Forest, a vast stretch of ancient woodland just outside of London where mushroom hunting is not allowed, The Guardian cites celebrity chefs as one of the main ecological problems that the area faces. What was once an underground trend has slowly made its way into the mainstream, and in doing so, put the environment at risk.

Fortunately for fungi foodies, it’s not the small scale foraging that’s cause for concern. “If one or two people visit a place and pick a few, that’s probably not much of a problem. But if a couple of people go there repeatedly, visit the same place and collect as many as possible for commercial gain, that could be a problem,” said Matthew Oates of the National Trust.

The culinary community is split on the issue, but ultimately as forager Caroline Davey told the BBC, “it’s about foraging sustainably and sensibly.” That goes for both the commercial industry and individuals.

Even if you’re an individual forager that means knowing about the region your mushroom picking in and how to lower your impact when doing so. If you’re new to foraging, consider taking a class or going with a more experienced mushroom hunter. The last thing we want is a movement that, until now, been responsible for getting more people outside and in tune with what food nature has to offer to turn into an industry that is ultimately detrimental to local habitats.

Forage sensibly!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: masonmasteka

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