Re: Making Amanita Honey
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:14 am
Hi again & thank you so much for this follow up post & excellent information! I am so intrigued by the idea of Amanita Kombucha~ Wow!!!! I'm so happy this thread inspired you and I'm excited to hear about your experiments. Wishing you all the best, Tenayalostmushroomforest wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:26 pmThe chance of the microbial contaminations you two mention in raw honey-based ferments is already very low due to the various antimicrobial compounds in the honey and the osmotic pressure of the honey at the moisture content used in this ferment. Though botulism spores have been found in honey (they are also found in soil and on the surfaces of fruit and vegetables), the organism cannot reproduce at the higher acidity / lower moisture content found in honey. The natural moisture content of raw honey can be anywhere between 15-20%, so its not like you are straying outside that range with a 18-20% moisture level. In addition, Amanita Muscaria has already been experimentally demonstrated to have antimicrobial properties. There is also the inhibitory effect of the other yeasts and bacteria in raw honey - specifically acid-producing bacteria. If you want to be as strict about food safety as you can with ferments, adding a Lactobacillus or Acidophilus based starter (kombucha, ACV, lacto-ferment brine) to the honey will lower the starting pH of your ferment and add acid-producing bacteria, both of which will inhibit the growth of bacterial/fungal spores of any pathogenic organisms contained in the honey.
That being said, fermented honey is a product that humans have safely made and consumed for thousands of years, and people have safely eaten hundreds, even thousands of years old preserved raw honey. The risk of botulism from consuming honey is primarily for infants or individuals with compromised immune systems, where botulism spores can colonize the intestinal tract. The main reason commercial honey is heat-treated and filtered is not for safety, it is to improve shelf appeal / pourability and to prevent any fermentation from occurring. The primary toxins produced by fermentation of raw honey under shelf conditions would be ethanol and other alcohols from yeasts. Contrary to popular belief, the honey pasteurization process does not reach high enough temperatures to destroy botulism spores. However, it does kill some of the other dormant microbes present in honey and destroy heat-sensitive organic compounds with potential health benefits.
I can also confirm from direct experience with raw honey ferments of garlic, ginger, and elderberry that fermented honey does extract water soluble actives from other herbs. Of course, lab results would be better, and I can say nothing about extraction efficiency, but I am not operating in an entirely hypothetical space here. The moisture content is essential to the whole fermentation process.
As far as fermentation destroying the actives, there is a risk of some yeasts consuming the muscimol using GABA permease, but that only occurs when they run out of sugars to eat. Something that could happen with Amanita beer, mead, or wine, but not with this. With my experiments making somabucha (Amanita kombucha) I have not noticed any degradation or negative transformations of the muscimol or other actives by the bacterial/yeast culture. But the effect is quite distinct from a low decarb tincture or raw mushroom, so I understand the desire to avoid fermentation if you are looking for those effects and their benefits.
As far as preservation goes, dried caps do not have an unlimited shelf life. The ibotenic acid in dried caps has been experimentally demonstrated to degrade over time. I'm not making any specific claims about the preservative effect of honey on these actives, but honey does contain antioxidants (flavonoids, polyphenols, etc.) which may have a preservative effect. If you were just using powdered dried caps and honey without any added liquid or starter culture, the hope is that the shelf life would be increased.
Tenaya, I hope you are not discouraged from making Amanita honey, I really think you are on to something here! This thread has inspired me, and I am considering making a small test batch with raw honey, dried A. Muscaria var. Guessowii, and starter tea from my somabucha batches.