Magic Mushroom Chocolate Bars: Know before You Buy

Seek All-Natural, Organic!

Psilocybin mushrooms, most commonly called “magic” mushrooms, are more popular today than they’ve been since the 1960’s at the height of the psychedelic revolution, and rightfully so. Study after study in recent years have confirmed what the Hippies knew — magic mushrooms offer profound opportunities for one to explore one’s consciousness and reality, connect with oneself and others, and help heal from traumatic experiences. As a result of that research and wider social acceptance, a new social psychedelic renaissance is underway.

The most popular way to consume magic mushrooms today (at least in the US) is through combinations with chocolate, typically in the form of chocolate bars. And if you’re new to magic mushrooms and you’re looking for a true magic mushroom experience, there are a few important things to know that will keep you safe as you search for your chocolate bar brand of choice. At the end, we’ll share a selection of our current favorite brands.

Three things to keep in mind:

1 — Make sure your mushrooms chocolate bars are made with all-natural, organic ingredients

2 — Generally avoid bars that contain any active ingredients other than psilocybin mushrooms

3 — Make sure you’re getting an authentic product you trust

All-Natural, Organic Ingredients

Look for products that contain psilocybin mushrooms in their natural, organic form. The mushroom ingredients should be derived from caps and stems that have been carefully matured and harvested and thoroughly cleaned, dried, and finely chopped or ground into a fine powder. The finer the mushrooms are ground, the less detectible they’ll be to taste and texture in your chocolate bar.

Some chocolate bar manufacturers extract the active ingredients from their mushrooms and exclusively use this concentrate in their recipes. We aren’t opposed to the use of concentrates — the use of concentrates will certainly give your chocolate bar a more traditional chocolate bar taste, look, and feel — but we generally prefer and recommend mushrooms used in their natural, non-processed form for peak effect.

Generally Avoid Ingredients other than Magic Mushrooms

On your search, you’ll quickly discover products that contain amanita muscaria, usually simply referred to as “amanita.” Amanita is a mushroom, but it does not contain pscilocin. While you will experience some sensory effects from consuming amanita, 1) the effects will be mild and different from those of psilocybin mushrooms and 2) you won’t in fact be experiencing a psilocybin mushroom trip. For those reasons, we recommend skipping the amanita.

Secondly, we generally recommend against brands that use ingredients in addition to magic mushrooms. Why? You simply don’t know what you’re getting — many such bars will contain ingredients that are often referred to as “research chemicals” or synthetic psychedelic compounds like 4-AcO-DMT that are used to amplify the psychedelic experience. But these compounds can come with dangerous side-effects (see news about the recent FDA warning about Diamond Shruumz products here).

Also, it is generally believed that even the industry’s most ubiquitous brand — PolkaDot — contains a blend of compounds in addition to magic mushrooms. We happen to be a fan of PolkaDot and their chocolate bars, but you’ll definitely experience a different and more intense sensory experience with their bar in relative comparison to a chocolate bar that is made exclusively with magic mushrooms (see recent reporting by Double Blind magazine here). For that reason — especially for novices — we recommend skipping bars with compound “blends,” synthetics, and fillers.

Make Sure You’re Purchasing an Authentic Product

That’s certainly harder than it sounds, because many of the largest manufacturers are the target of product counterfeiters who copy their packaging and insert their own, counterfeit products. However, thankfully, many brands — notably PolkaDot, Mr. Mushies, and New Age Drip — have neutralized this risk by labeling all their products with blockchain-enabled, cryptographically protected product authentication tags. If you see the tag, you know your product is legit and can verify it on the blockchain.

Secondly, brand trust is something that manufacturers work incredibly hard to build and protect (at least the manufacturers who are committed to the industry and to doing the right thing for their customers). And core to that brand trust is establishing a reputation as a brand that produces a quality, safe product for its customers. Developing this brand trust will take time and experience, so follow your intuition, be smart, and play it safe.