Podcast:
Flora Funga
187: New Anti-Cancer & Memory Boosting Boba Tea Fungus!
With:
KK
October 15, 2025
I had such a fun time joining KK on the Flora Funga Podcast to dive into some of the most underrated medicinal (and culinary!) mushrooms for cancer support, immune resilience, beauty, and brain health. We covered tremella — the “boba tea jelly fungus” — plus shiitake, maitake, turkey tail, and how to use everyday grocery store mushrooms in deeply therapeutic ways. If you’re curious about the mushrooms oncologists should be talking about, but often aren’t, this episode is packed with practical gems you can start using right away.
Conversation starters
[For awkward dinner parties, silent elevator rides, grocery store lines, and your favorite barista]
“Mushrooms are a hormetic food — they gently stress the body in a good way so your immune system becomes stronger and more resilient.”
“In Japan, it’s normal for oncology patients to receive mushroom-based IV drips. In the U.S., most oncologists don’t even know it’s a thing.”
Key Topics
[02:52] 🧠 How psychedelics sparked my early fascination with mushrooms
[07:33] 🎗️ How shiitake supports cancer care: immune modulation, apoptosis & synergy with treatment
[11:15] 🍵 Tremella (the “boba tea fungus”) for leukopenia, gut lining support & chemo resilience
[12:00] 🦃 Turkey Tail: what the research actually says (PSP, PSK & patented mycelium extracts)
[15:13] 🍄 Top culinary mushrooms for cancer support: shiitake, maitake, turkey tail & more
[17:20] 🧬 Daily mushroom dosing for immune strength & oxidative stress protection
[20:45] 🔥 The right (and wrong) ways to consume mushrooms for medicinal benefit
[22:30] 🧪 When broth is best — and why tinctures often fall short
Spores for Thought
"If you're trying to get at least two grams of lion's mane per day, but it's in a formula with eight other mushrooms and they're all at 250mg or less, you're not really going to get the full range of benefits from any individual mushroom."
Resources
Dandelion Botanical Company (apothecary mentioned)
Go Deeper
Medicinal Mushrooms – Going Viral (white paper)
Lion's Mane: a Psychosomatic Psychobiotic (blog post)
Dosing Principles for Medicinal Mushrooms (blog post)
Ergothioneine: The Elusive Amino Acid (blog post)
Shameless Plugs
IMMUNE - combines reishi, turkey tail, shiitake, and maitake for comprehensive immune support
BRAIN & NERVES- features lion's mane, cordyceps, tremella, and oyster mushroom to support memory, focus, and cognitive function while nourishing the gut-brain connection.
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