Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) is a common mushroom in North America as well as other parts of the world. One of the best things is that its available 8 months out of the year whereas most mushrooms are only available for a few days to up to two months of the year! You’ll want to be careful when harvesting, however, because there are many lookalikes to Turkey Tail.

Before we get to all the medicinal benefits of this amazing mushroom, lets cover the identification. Remember, you need to be 100% sure you have the right mushroom before harvesting. I recommend using a few books as well as a local guide before ever consuming wild mushrooms. They are especially dangerous and poisonings are far more likely than with wild edible plants. That’s usually because mushrooms are cooked before eating them so large quantities can easily be eaten and poisonous mushrooms don’t necessarily taste bad.

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There are six main traits you’ll need to look for:

1. Small pores on the underside. There should be 1 to 3 pores per millimeter. You may need a magnifying glass to see them clearly. If the pores are larger, it is likely a Trametes mushroom.

• 2. Does the mushroom feel fuzzy or like velvet? If not, move on. It does not actually have hair, just feels very soft.

• 3. Color of the Underside: The underside should be very white when fresh. If its gray, its something else. It will turn yellowish or brown when it ages.

• 4. Color on the Top: The color zones should be very distinct for Turkey Tails. For look-alikes, the color zones are more blurry and when examining closely will have texture variations. Trametes pubescens is an example that you may confuse with Turkey Tail.

• 5. Flexibility: Turkey Tail is flexible and very thin. This hold true
• even after it has been dried. If it is hard and rigid, you may have Trametes Ochracea.

Medicinal Benefits

The benefits of learning Turkey Tail will pay off, I promise!

1)  Phagocytosis – How your immune system kills viruses and bacteria.

2)  Natural killer cell activity – Kills cancer cells.

3)  Macrophage activity – Types of while blood cells that destroy cellular debris, cancer cells and foreign substances.

4)  Suppress Pro Inflammatory Cytokines release – Stop cells that promote inflammation in the body.

It also has been proven to have many anti-cancerous properties. My research shows it has been shown to reduce the following cancers:

1. Lung Cancer
2. Gastric Cancer
3. Colorectal Cancer
4. Breast Cancer – Check out this article for confirmation!

And this one!

If you are nervous about foraging on your own or want to jump right in, you can order some turkey tail directly from herbal supplement stores now. I usually go with Vitacost, but I know there are others out there!

As always, be safe out there and first and foremost try to learn the identification of mushrooms and plants before consuming anything!

Sources:

• Adamant, Ashley. Turkey Tail Mushroom: Identification and Uses. 4.25.2019. Practical Self Reliance. Accessed Date: October 22, 2020. <https://practicalselfreliance.com/turkey-tail-mushroom/&gt;

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