Magic truffles

Magic truffles

Magic truffles can be used as drugs or as medicine (according to research). The setting determines how they are used and what purpose they serve.

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Read more about magic truffles as therapy here.

Magic truffles are actually not truffles but sclerotia. Unlike mushrooms, they grow underground, among the fungal threads. Mushrooms normally grow from a system of fungal threads, also known as a mycelium, but sometimes the conditions for this are not optimal. At that moment, the mycelium begins to produce sclerotia to store nutrients for better times. Because certain mushrooms produce psilocin and psilocybin, the substances that cause hallucinations, these substances are also stored in the sclerotia, giving rise to the so-called magic truffles.

That sclerotia are a “survival technique” of the mushroom is also evident when it is exposed to heat. At that moment, the sclerotia want to start producing mycelium to continue the life cycle of the mushroom. Because the mycelium begins as a soft white layer on the sclerotia, it is often mistakenly considered a mold, but fortunately, sclerotia on which mycelium is growing are completely safe to eat.

To cultivate sclerotia, the situation described above must be replicated. This is done by placing the mycelium in a virtually enclosed space. This allows the growth conditions to be perfectly controlled, causing the mycelium to start forming sclerotia instead of mushrooms. This process takes several months, after which the sclerotia are harvested, washed, and further processed into portions.

How do they work?

Magic truffles contain the psychoactive substances psilocybin and psilocin, just like magic mushrooms.

Psilocybin

Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic (entheogenic, psychedelic) indole from the tryptamine family. It is produced by hundreds of fungal species, including the genus Psilocybe, such as Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe semilanceata (the Spiky-headed Psilocybe), and has reportedly also been isolated from dozens of other fungal species. The collective name is psilocybin mushrooms, but they are commonly referred to as “sacred mushrooms,” “magic mushrooms,” or simply “magic mushrooms.” Possession and, in some cases, use of psilocybin or psilocin are outlawed in most countries worldwide. Proponents of its use consider it an entheogen and a complementary tool for various types of transcendence practices, including meditation, psychonautics, and psychedelic psychotherapy as with a truffle ceremony . The intensity and duration of the entheogenic effects of psilocybin mushrooms vary widely, depending on the species or cultivated variety of the mushroom, dosage, individual disposition, and environmental factors.

Once ingested, psilocybin is immediately converted into psilocin, which subsequently acts partially as an antagonist on the 5-HT2A- and 5-HT1A serotonin receptors in the brain. The characteristic consciousness-altering effects of psilocybin last between 3 and 8 hours, although those effects seem to last much longer for people under the influence of psilocybin, because the drug can also alter the sense of time.

Toxicity

The toxicity of psilocybin is low; in rats, the oral LD50 is 280 mg/kg, approximately one and a half times that of caffeine. The lethal dose of psilocybin intoxication, whether for recreational or medicinal use, is unknown and has never been documented; a 2008 report stated: “Death from the ingestion of psilocybin alone is unknown, whether for recreational or medicinal use.” Psilocybin makes up approximately 1% of the weight of the Psilocybe cubensis mushroom and truffles, so approximately 1.7 kilograms of dried or 17 kilograms of fresh mushrooms would be required to reach the rat LD50 of 280 mg/kg in a person weighing 60 kg. People taking lithium should be cautious with psilocybin, as the combination could lead to seizures according to various reports. Magic truffle ceremonies are therefore safer than ayahuasca.