⚠️ Use provided information at your own risk. Improper use of Amanita muscaria can result in poisoning or death.

Introduction

The aim of this short article is a collection of scientific research and personal notes on the topic of consuming Amanita muscaria as a psychoactive drug and as an esculent. Amanita muscaria, also known as Fly agaric is a potent psychedelic mushroom, that has been traditionally used during sacred ceremonies in different parts of the world. It has also been consumed by various cultures as an edible mushroom (although with a specific way of preparation). Current scientific knowledge allows us to better understand the chemistry behind its effects on the human mind and body.

For our interest, Amanita muscaria contains 2 primary compounds: ibotenic acid and muscimol. Other notable constituents are muscarine and muscazone, but according to the research, they don’t seem to be as relevant¹. Deadly poisonous amatoxins known from other Amanita species are not present, but there have been reported deaths caused by Amanita muscaria in the past connected to normally non-lethal poisoning⁷.

Psychoactive use

Fresh specimens of the mushroom contain mostly ibotenic acid (psychoactive, powerful neurotoxin). Due to its cytotoxic properties, ibotenic acid is used to model Alzheimer's disease in rats⁴. For psychoactive use, ibotenic acid should be converted (decarboxylated) to safer muscimol before consumption. Muscimol (also known as agarin or pantherine) is one of the principal psychoactive constituents of A. muscaria and related species of mushroom. It is 10 times more potent than ibotenic acid. Muscimol is a salt, very soluble in water and thermostable therefore will not degrade with cooking¹. Neurologically, muscimol is a potent, selective agonist for the GABA-A receptors and displays sedative-hypnotic, depressant and hallucinogenic psychoactivity. It also possesses analgesic properties, and recent studies show promise in treating conditions such as epilepsy or schizophrenia⁴.

One of the often-mentioned options for processing A. muscaria for psychoactive use is drying. Drying will decarboxylate some ibotenic to muscimol, but not all of it (table 1)— resulting in a still poisonous product⁵. Traditional psychoactive use in Russia and India has been reportedly connected to using humans or animals as “decarboxylation machines”. The human body can decarboxylate some of the ibotenic acid into muscimol, which results in muscimol-containing urine. The shaman sacrificed his own health for benefit of others — providing psychoactive urine, partly relieved from negative side effects caused by the ibotenic acid¹.

Luckily, today’s scientific understanding brings us more advanced and easier methods of decarboxylation. For starters, it is more efficient to use fresh specimens since they contain more ibotenic acid (table 1) than dried ones as the traditional methods suggest. Since we know that it will be all converted to muscimol, we actually want as much ibotenic acid to start with as possible. More ibotenic acid means more muscimol after decarboxylation³.

The current recommended decarboxylation method is at least a 150-minute boil in pH 2.7 water solution (fig. 3.). The pH of the solution can be easily adjusted with citric acid or lemons. Using a calibrated pH meter is unavoidable for proper measurements. As seen on the provided graph, this method should convert all present ibotenic acid to muscimol. Advanced users from the internet communities recommend 3 hour boil for extra safety. Worth mentioning is also (patented) approach is using fermentation for decarboxylation, but it seems way too complex for non-lab preparation.

My muscimol experience

In the spirit of the research, I have decided to test out this procedure on myself. I have collected 5–6 caps of various sizes and dried them since I didn’t have time to prepare them fresh (they are way more potent in a fresh state). My mix resulted in approximately 50g of dry mass (some parts were not fully dried, so I am estimating here). I have ground the very dry specimens and rest I tear into small chunks by hand. I added 1.8 liters of water (size limit of my pot) and squeezed one lemon into the mix. After sampling the pH level it was nowhere near the desired 2.7pH, so I used “Ati Lemonita” lemon juice concentrate until I reached it and started the boil. I boiled the mixture for 3 hours with the occasional addition of water and pH level check — the pH level didn’t really change over time when I maintained the volume of the pot. The resulting brew was orange in color and had a slight mushroom smell. The taste was very acidic due to all the lemon juice and the mushroom part was barely noticeable.

21:15 I started with a small sip to test out the potency of the liquid

22:05 Beginning to feel slight euphoria and dizziness

22–23:00 Ingesting additional 1 dcl of the brew

23:30 The effects became more noticeable — feeling of warmth, relaxation, and euphoria. Analgesic effects are also present.

0:00 The effects are now psychedelic as well. The perception of space and time is changing and there is an occurrence of close-eyed visuals too. The visuals are not similar to psychedelics I have experienced. They are more “reality-based”. For example, there is a repeating grid of 9 photos of myself where I am “choosing” one to become. Most visual hallucinations are only present with eyes closed. A lot of them behave in a loop and repetition. I remember Paul Stamets mentioning this sort of thing in one of his interviews. There are images and situations constantly “strobed” and repeated in a specific rhythm and I am not in so much control of the situation.

The tempo of the visuals seems to be around 130–135 BPM, which makes me think of psytrance parties. In that state, I wonder whether that specific BPM has something to do with some inner tempo of our perception and is cleverly utilized in the music for that reason.

It is overwhelming at times, but not necessarily unpleasant. I think a lot about if the loops have any connection to the way our brains operate. It reminds me of some software that is rhythmically checking the current state of his sensors. That the flashes of various reality scenes I am witnessing are parts of my brain “checking” on where I am, what is the time, what is my name, and so on. As a reality check, running constantly in the background is now exposed.

1:00 I am falling asleep. The whole Amanita experience feels very good in that sense, it doesn’t force you to stay awake. The dreams are vivid, but not any more vivid than my usual dreams. They are all pleasant.

Overall I feel like the experience was very interesting and wouldn’t mind repeating it again in the future. The dose was possibly too high and wouldn’t mind staying in the “warm, relaxed” territory without reaching the “loopy” state.

Edibility

David Arora and William Rubel have been the main contemporary propagators of seeing Amanita muscaria as an esculent. Their research⁶ shows that eating this symbol of poisonous mushrooms (in a contemporary setting) was not uncommon in the 19th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century, A. muscaria slowly drifted to the poisonous category. Contemporary ID guides mark A. muscaria as a poisonous, dangerous mushroom, without mentioning potential edibility.

From a chemical standpoint, the main toxic part is the previously mentioned ibotenic acid. Muscarin, poison known from other Amanitas is not present in significant quantities. Since ibotenic acid and muscimol are both soluble in water, they can be removed by a simple boiling and straining procedure⁶.

Here is a recipe from Rubel and Arora’s article “A Study of Cultural Bias in Field Guide Determinations of Mushroom Edibility Using the Iconic Mushroom, Amanita muscaria, as an Example”⁶:

Cut the A. muscaria cap and stalk into thin slices (no more than 3–4 mm or 1/8” thick) to hasten dissolving of the active constituents. For each 110 g or 4 oz of mushroom, use 1 liter or a quart of water with 1 teaspoon salt. Garlic and bay leaf can be added to the water for flavoring. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then add the sliced mushrooms. Begin timing the cooking once the water returns to a boil. Boil for 10–15 minutes, until the mushroom is soft, then drain and rinse.

This recipe is not that different from other specific preparation techniques connected to mushrooms. Honey mushroom (Armillaria sp.) or dotted stem bolete (Neoboletus luridiformis) are also examples of mushrooms that are toxic in their raw state. This brings up the question, whether it is not worth considering bringing back edible status.

Opponents of the article are more skeptical about reinstating A. muscaria into the “edible” category since the poisoning can be more severe than with other mushrooms (albeit rarely deadly). According to them, the risk is just not worth it and it is better to remain on the safe side. They see consuming A. muscaria as a “daring culinary adventure”, rather than something that will or should be accepted by the masses⁷.

Cooked Amanita muscaria: personal experience

I have used 1 cap of fresh A. muscaria for my first test and prepared it according to the mentioned recipe. The only difference that I didn’t follow was not tossing the mushroom in the boiling water but brought it up to boil with the water. Not sure if that made any difference.

The color of the mushroom was completely gone, but it remained surprisingly firm. Since I didn’t want to affect the taste too much, I have eaten it just with salt and pepper. The taste was rather basic, the closest would be something like Russula or Macrolepiota — mild gilled–mushroom taste. The only interesting part was the occasional hint of conifers. Retrospectively I feel like my perception may have been affected by my nervousness. Eating the symbol of the most poisonous mushroom has its consequences. I did not feel any side effects after eating, not even heaviness in the stomach. But I have to say I am generally doing well with digesting most mushrooms and rarely experience any problems.

Amanita muscaria poisoning report

My friend got recently poisoned by A. muscaria consumption, resulting in a 3-day stay at a hospital. I decided to interview him and write down what he had to say and what was reported in his hospital discharge report. I shall call him “B” to preserve his anonymity.

B was cycling through the woods in the city forests of Bratislava at a significant distance from paved roads. B spotted few specimens of A. muscaria near the path and decided to eat them with intention of experiencing psychoactive effects. He immediately consumed one and a half of raw mushroom caps. To be precise—only the gills of the mushrooms—inspired by his observation that those were half-eaten by slugs and snails. After 15–30 minutes, he started to experience nausea and “reduced framerate” of perception. After one hour he was already feeling too nauseous to continue walking or even standing. At this point, he tried contacting a friend via instant messaging, but the text was too incoherent. He sat down and consequently laid down due to problems with perception.

B was found by a passerby, severely hypothermic, with body temperature 32°C and bradycardia (heart rate at 40 beats per minute). He was laying on the ground, partly undressed from his clothes. A passerby has called the emergency services and Bs parents, which he managed to contact through his phone. Upon arriving at the hospital the emergency responders nor doctors knew what is the cause of Bs state. Info about A. muscaria experiment was revealed after his brother managed to read the cryptic message on Bs phone, written earlier to a friend.

After consulting the National Toxicological Centre the doctors performed gastric lavage and supplied B with activated charcoal. B doesn’t recall much of the psychoactive effects of the mushroom due to memory loss, but he has been reportedly acting erratically and shouting random sentences (about pain). From what he heard, it was not far off from exorcism scenes from movies. The day after poisoning most effects were gone. B reported feeling “reborn”, possibly due to the amount of “expression” (shouting) which he speculates to be a sort of cathartic moment. He also mentioned that recollecting consciousness was particularly interesting, mentioning that it happened in layers — like separate parts of the body would become conscious at different points in time. He was discharged from the hospital after three days, without reported permanent damage to his organs or brain. At this moment he feels sick thinking about trying to consume Amanita mushrooms again.

Bibliography and further recommended reading

1. Feeney, K. (2010). Revisiting Wasson’s soma: Exploring the effects of preparation on the chemistry of amanita muscaria, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 42(4), 499–506.
2. Patočka, J., & Kocandrlová, B. (2017). PHARMACOLOGICALLY AND TOXICOLOGICALLY RELEVANT COMPONENTS OF Amanita muscaria, Military Medical Science Letters, 86(3), 122–134.
3. Nielsen, E., Schousboe, A., Hansen, S., & Krogsgaard‐Larsen, P. (1985). Excitatory Amino Acids: Studies on the Biochemical and Chemical Stability of Ibotenic Acid and Related Compounds, Journal of Neurochemistry, 45(3), 725–731.
4. Stebelska, K. (2013). Fungal hallucinogens psilocin, ibotenic acid, and muscimol: Analytical methods and biologic activities, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, 35(4), 420–442.
5. K. Tsunoda, T. (1993). Change in Ibotenic Acid and Muscimol Contents in Amanita muscaria during Drying, Storing or Cooking, Journal of The Food Hygienic Society of Japan, 4.
6. Rubel, W., & Arora, D. (2009). Erratum: A study of cultural bias in field guide determinations of mushroom edibility using the iconic mushroom, Amanita muscaria, as an example, Economic Botany, 63(2), 227.
7. Debbie Viess. Further Reflections on Amanita muscaria as an Edible Species.