Posted by pinksharkmark (64.32.117.23) on September 19, 2001 at 19:12:49:
In Reply to: Shelf Life. Question for Flash posted by Shelley on September 19, 2001 at 13:42:26:
Much as I love Doc Charlie, he is wrong on this one. There is no way that honey-packed mushrooms will retain any potency to speak of after five years.
Flash is correct that for long-term storage desiccation is the only way to go. The problem with the honey method is that the psilocybin and psilocin leach out of the mushroom tissue over time. Eventually, virtually all of the "goodies" end up in a thin layer of liquid floating on top of the honey, where the molecules of psilocybin and psilocin become prone to spontaneous breakdown.
Even if the "good stuff" remains potent, it becomes extremely problematical at that point to determine correct dosage, with some of the compounds remaining in the mushrooms, some dispersed throughout the honey, and some in the water layer, all at different concentrations, and all of the relative ratios changing dynamically.
Bottom line... for storage periods longer than about six months or so, drying is the ONLY method that makes sense.
The enemies of the active compounds are high temperatures, oxygen, moisture, and light. The best possible method of longterm storage is to dry the mushrooms COMPLETELY, seal them in GLASS containers (all plastics "breathe" to some extent) with a little pouch of desiccant in each container, in an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen, freon or carbon dioxide, then place the storage containers in the deep freeze.
An easy way to fill a storage container with carbon dioxide is to drop in a chunk of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide), toss in the desiccant package and the mushrooms, sit the lid on LOOSELY, and wait until the dry ice evaporates COMPLETELY. Then seal the jar. It is ESSENTIAL to wait until the dry ice has evaporated completely before sealing the container, otherwise the jar will explode from pressure buildup.
Since carbon dioxide is heavier than air, it displaces the air in the container as it is released from the dry ice. By the time the dry ice is completely gone, the container will have nothing but CO2 left in it.
pinky