A sweet and mildly bitter medicinal cordial made with reishi mushrooms and wild-picked mimosa flowers.
Put one cup water + chopped reishi mushrooms in small pot with lid on. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer. Cook for an additional 3-4 hours (with lid on) on medium low heat. Add more water if necessary - you want to end up with about 1 cup of reishi mushroom tea at the end.
After ~4 hours, remove mushroom tea from heat and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in honey when tea is warm, but not hot in order to dissolve the honey without cooking it.
Combine all ingredients together (honey-sweetened mushroom tea + remaining 4 cups water, flowers, and citrus) in glass container. Stir, then cover with breathable fabric like cheesecloth or linen. Place on counter at room temperature out of sunlight. Stir vigorously at least once every 12 hours and take a small taste to see how flavor is developing.
Mixture should start getting bubbly within ~3 days as microbial activity increases and fermentation commences. From start to finish, we let our reishi mimosa flower cordial ferment for about 7 days. Once done, strain out liquid (including squeezing out flowers and mushroom pieces by hand), and refrigerate. The cold temperatures of your fridge arrest fermentation by slowing down the metabolism of the microbes. During refrigeration, the lees (dead yeasts and other sediments) also drop to the bottom of your jar, resulting in a clearer liquid.
*Final quantity of this recipe is about 4.5 cups, slightly more than 1 quart jar.
Serve as a digestif or apertif, or use as a base in mixed drinks.
Reishi mushroom mimosa flower cordial https://www.tyrantfarms.com/reishi-mushrooms-how-to-find-id-use-with-recipe/