Last year, I found one morel and a treeful of wood ear. It’s almost time to go back to those spots!

How cool is it that mushrooms aren’t plants or animals, but fantastical medicinal beings? Like us, they make Vitamin D from the sun. Also like us, they don’t photosynthesize and must eat dead things for energy. So after we eat them, they eat us! (if we’re buried).

Most of us should probably be eating more mushrooms for their protein, fiber, and minerals. They’re rich in beta glucans, which are soluble dietary fibers that help a variety of tasks like regulating blood sugar and fortifying white blood cells.

They provide B vitamins, helping our bodies get energy from food and oxygenate red blood cells. Many mushroom varieties contain both ergothioneine and glutathione, two antioxidants that together help manage physiological stress and prevent dis-ease.

Since mushrooms can stimulate your immune system, people with auto-immune issues can test varieties in low amounts.

Along with whites and portobellos, some grocery stores have oysters and shiitakes. I’ve tried reishi and other less-common varieties in powder form. I find the powder flavorful, and I feel energized. You can sprinkle it on meals like salt. It also makes a robust, brothy hot drink, and paired with cacao, you’ll never go back to any other hot cocoa!

Mushroom Cocoa:

Heat 8-12 oz water. Add ingredients, to taste, in a blender.

• Raw cacao powder
• Quality mushroom powder.
• Spoonful coconut oil or grass-fed butter.
• Drizzle honey.
• Sprinkle salt and cinnamon.

Blend until frothy.