Real Mushrooms Review: The Best Functional Mushroom Brand of 2025?

The name says it all—Real Mushrooms are made of real mushrooms, not lab-grown extracts produced from mycelium (the root system of the mushroom) on a grain substrate, which many functional mushroom products on the market utilize. 

Founded by Skye Chilton and his mycologist father, Jeff Chilton, Real Mushrooms is built on 40 years of ‘shroom experience and a mission to bring authentic, bioavailable, and impactful functional mushroom products to the U.S. 

But what makes these extracts stand out from the rest in a sea of mushroom mania? In this review, learn that and more, including how the brand got an overall A grade and top scores on ingredient formulation, transparency, and certifications.

Real Mushrooms Review Summary (Overall Grade: A)

Best-Selling Products at Real Mushrooms

Real Mushrooms offers all of the most popular functional mushrooms, including:

• Chaga
• Cordyceps
• Lion’s mane
• Reishi
• Turkey tail
• Tremella

Here’s a look at their chaga powder:

Real Mushrooms Chaga contains just that: only organic chaga extract (1,000mg with 80mg of verified beta-glucan content). 

Another top seller is the 5 Defenders Organic Mushroom Blend, which contains a blend of organic extracts of five medicinal mushrooms (reishi, shiitake, maitake, turkey tail, and chaga) that are thought to support immune health.

The 5 Defenders Organic Mushroom supplement also comes in powder form—the two are identical; it just depends on which form you prefer. Two mushroom capsules are equivalent to roughly 1/2 tsp of the mushroom powders.

However, there are not too many other “blends” or different types of mushroom products like mushroom coffee (although they do have mushroom hot chocolate).

Real Mushrooms Review

Now, let’s get into the details about how Real Mushrooms earned an overall A grade.

Ingredients & Formulation (A+)

While Real Mushrooms was founded by son Skye, his dad Jeff has been in the mushroom game since the 1970s.

After a foray into mushroom cultivation in Olympia, Washington, Jeff founded the brand Nammex in 1989, a supplier of wholesale medicinal mushroom extracts (and one of the first to bring them to the United States). Now, the fungi Real Mushrooms sells come from Nammex, too.

Real Mushrooms is different from many other functional mushroom brands because it provides both mushroom capsules and powders, catering to the different types of supplement takers.

With the powders, you can easily add to your morning coffee or smoothie, while capsules can be popped at any time.

All of Real Mushrooms’ extracts are made from certified organic mushrooms (fruiting bodies only—no mycelium) that are organically grown or wildcrafted in the mountain regions of China or Siberia. Mushroom products that contain only mycelium tend to be much lower in beneficial compounds like beta-glucans and higher in unwanted starches.

Uniquely, Real Mushrooms guarantees over 8% content of beta-glucans—a prebiotic fiber that is linked to heart, gut, brain, and immune health. 

All Real Mushroom products are USDA Certified Organic, non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, and contain no grain fillers or additives. Fun fact: Jeff organized the first organic certification workshop for mushroom growers in China in 1997!

Overall, the ingredients and formulations of Real Mushrooms products could not be better.

Transparency & Certifications (A+)

Real Mushrooms is also doing excellent with transparency and certifications, especially when it comes to sourcing transparency. 

All of their mushrooms are grown and sourced from China or Siberia (for chaga). Despite concerns about some  China-made products in today’s society, Chinese functional mushrooms are the real deal—in fact, China was the birthplace of mushroom cultivation thousands of years ago.

Conversely, U.S.-grown mushrooms are often subpar and loaded with unwanted starches from being grown on myceliated grain alternatives.

Real Mushrooms products undergo rigorous third-party testing and quality control measures, including multiple tests for heavy metals, pesticides, and microorganisms—once in China, a second test when they arrive in the U.S., and a third time after packaging.

ConsumerLab has also named Real Mushrooms as the “Best Mushroom Supplement Company,” showing detailed testing results that verify Real Mushrooms’ high-beta glucan levels, nonexistent levels of contaminants, and absolutely no grains. 

In addition to being Certified USDA Organic, Real Mushrooms are also vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free, and NSF-certified. 

Each product has a Purity IQ QR code that takes you to the third-party testing results, which is a helpful feature.

Sustainability (A-)

While mushrooms themselves are environmentally friendly and a sustainable choice, supporting ecosystem health and biodiversity, the Real Mushrooms brand is not overly ambitious with its sustainability efforts. 

They do offer bulk buys (for the powders) to reduce waste and carbon emissions from excess shipping, but as far as we could tell, the supplement packaging is plastic and not environmentally conscious. 

Overall, the sustainability efforts could be stepped up.

Value (A-)

Real Mushrooms is a bit more expensive than several other popular mushroom brands, likely due to their premium sourcing, third-party testing, and use of 100% fruiting bodies. 

Let’s take a look at how the chaga powder compares to others on the market: 

As you can see, Real Mushrooms is quite a bit more expensive than Om and Malama, but is on par with Four Sigmatic—another top-tier functional mushroom brand. However, Four Sigmatic’s Protect Blend is not just chaga; it also contains nine other mushroom extracts, making it a more valuable product.

Key Takeaways: Is Real Mushrooms Worth It?

We consider Real Mushrooms products worthwhile supplements if you want to include functional mushroom powders or capsules in your supplement routine. 

The main health benefits of Real Mushrooms include high-quality sourcing, testing to ensure that beneficial active compounds like beta-glucans are present, and available third-party results for purity and potency. 

However, Real Mushrooms could do more with sustainability and are a bit pricier than other brands. That said, the steeper price tag is worth it due to the additional beta-glucan content.

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