About Us
A Humble Start
The Beginning of Real Mushrooms
Real Mushrooms was created to emphasize the fact that our products are
solely made from mushrooms. We emphasize the term “Real” as I’ll explain in
more detail further down, because many so-called “mushroom” products do
not contain mushrooms.
My Mentor
Real Mushrooms came into existence through long discussions with my father, Jeff Chilton, founder of Nammex, the leading supplier of organic mushroom extract ingredients to supplement companies. All of our organic mushroom extracts come from Nammex.
Jeff is an instrumental figure in the creation of the now booming medicinal mushroom product category. With over 40 years of mushroom growing experience, he was one of the first to bring mushroom extracts to the North American market and organized the first organic mushroom growers workshop in China back in 1996. He was then one of the first to bring organic mushroom extracts to the North American market.
Our Mushroom Origins
An Opportunity…
With this knowledge, I saw an opportunity to develop a product line based on the mushroom itself. My goal was to educate the public on how functional mushrooms are grown, what to look for in a mushroom product and ensure that our products were consistent with the scientific research.
Transparency
All of our mushrooms are grown and sourced in China. We take great pride working with our Chinese partners and bringing the highest quality extracts to you. China has a rich history of mushroom use and is the birthplace of mushroom cultivation, beginning as early as the 12th century. It is one of the only places you can cultivate, and extract organic mushroom extract powders for supplement use at scale. China also produces over 95% of the world’s mushrooms, has the most mushroom researchers of any country and uses mushroom growing to help small communities out of poverty.
All products are tested for heavy metals, pesticides, microorganisms and active compounds. We continually work with our exclusive partners to bring the highest quality functional mushrooms into our Real Mushrooms products.
Mushroom Growing Economics
I say China is one of the only places because it is not economically feasible to grow mushrooms for supplements in North America. I wish this were an option but it is not. The mushroom growing economics do not work for supplements. This is why “U.S. Grown” products are made from grain based mycelium and not mushrooms.