Magic Truffles:  Everything You Need To Know

Psychedelic truffles, “philosopher’s stones,” “the rock of ages,” “the cosmic camote,” and “the superfantastic mega-galactic camotillo”! Whatever you call them, magic truffles are shrooms’ little brothers and sisters,. Since they contain the same psychedelic compounds as mushrooms, they can also be used to microdose, trip, or as a substance that lubricates a consumer’s psychotherapy treatments. But there’s one key difference: they are fully legal in the Netherlands, making it much easier to purchase them online.

What Are Magic Truffles?

Appearance-wise, magic truffles are completely different from the more well-known magic mushrooms. While magic mushrooms look like… well, mushrooms, magic truffles are dark, rough, and hard — basically, they have the shape of kefir grain with the colors of nut brittle. But they come from the same organism and both contain psilocybin and psilocin — the compounds responsible for the psychedelic experience you get from mushrooms.

And, no, they aren’t actually truffles, they are an outcropping of the magic mushroom itself. Mushrooms have very fine white filaments called ‘hyphae‘ growing underneath them. Their job is to release enzymes that decompose surrounding organic matter and absorb nutrients to feed the mushroom itself. The hyphae form a network called mycelium. Although completely different from each other, mycelia are to mushrooms what roots are to plants.

Sclerotia are a concentrated mass of hardened mycelia where mushrooms store food reserves to withstand extreme environmental conditions. Magic truffles are this sclerotia. All mushrooms have mycelia but only some have sclerotia, a topic we will delve into when we discuss different species.

Effects

You’ll start feeling the effects of magic truffles them around 30 to 60 minutes after consumption. The average trip lasts between four and six hours. The peak usually goes on over the first two hours.

There are many factors affecting how you experience a trip but the most commonly reported effects include:

• Altered perception of vision, hearing, and physical sensations
• Hallucinations
• Altered perception of time — this can be negative if you start feeling like the trip will never end
• Impaired short-term memory
• Feeling more connected and unified with nature, objects, and people around you
• Changes in emotional state, including improved mood, laughing a lot, and euphoria, but negative effects, like anxiety, are also possible
• Increased associativity — you may start making connections between things that would otherwise go unnoticed
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Increased sweating and/or peeing more often than usual — make sure you stay hydrated!

Species

There are only a few Psilocybe species that naturally produce sclerotia — although there are likely more that haven’t discovered yet. Here are the three original strains:

• Psilocybe tampanensis (native to Florida, USA)
• Psilocybe mexicana (native to Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica)
• Psilocybe Atlantis (native to Georgia, USA)

From these three species, many others were bred, including:

• Psilocybe Hollandia
• Psilocybe Valhalla
• Psilocybe utopia
• Psilocybe tampelandia
• Psilocybe pajateros
• Psilocybe cyanescens
• Psilocybe mokum
• Psilocybe fantasia
• Psilocybe pajaritos

Their potency depends on the growing conditions and, so far, there isn’t a consensus on the average amount of psilocybin and psilocin they contain.

If you purchase magic truffles from a legal vendor, the amount of each substance will be listed on the product label and/or on their website.

However, Lilli Steingraeber, the director of ProviThor and a pioneer microdosing entrepreneur, claimed that “truffles have a very constant amount of psilocybin and nearly no psilocin or baeocystin — actually, all truffles are nearly the same, no matter what marketing teams claim.”

The takeaway here is that you’re better off looking at the psilocybin content of each magic truffle type a vendor has available than looking at the strain.

Taste

Steingraeber claimed that “magic truffles, when fresh, taste between ‘awful’ and ‘quite OK,’ depending on the way they were packaged and the time inside the package.” They taste nutty and a bit like dirt. Most people don’t find it very pleasant.

Luckily there are alternatives to chewing them. You can grind and wash them down with water or add warm water to them and have it as tea. Remember that the water should only be warm — boiling water can compromise their effects.

The director of ProviThor shared another great tip: “dried truffles need to be soaked first before you can eat them and soaking with drinkable hard alcohol (gin, Amaretto, etc.) makes them taste really good.”

Shelf Life

Fresh truffles have a shelf life of anywhere from a month to 3 months if stored continuously at two to five degrees Celsius. 24High, a leading Dutch smart shop, claims that fresh truffles can last “between two and three months if you store them in a fridge (at) five degrees (Celsius).” Be aware that their appearance may change, though — no need to be alarmed if it happens!

So, just follow the storage advice put forward by the vendor you buy from. You should be able to easily find this information on their website or on the product label.

When it comes to dried truffles, Lilli Steingraeber shared that they “have a near to eternal shelf life […] and after 3 years they are just as good as the first day” even without cooling.

Mixing With Alcohol

It is strongly advised that you not mix magic truffles with high amounts of alcohol. It takes away the purity of your experience and can lead to serious negative side effects, including nausea and mental instability. But if you’re just microdosing, it’s ok to have a few drinks.

Legal Status

As we mentioned above, both magic truffles and mushrooms are psychedelic but there are a number of factors that affect their legal status in different jurisdictions.

In this section, we’ll take a look at the legality of magic truffles in Canada, the US, and Europe.

Are Magic Truffles Legal in Canada?

Officially, magic truffles are illegal in Canada (just like magic mushrooms) because they contain psilocybin and psilocin, which are illegal substances.

However, you can still purchase both magic truffles and mushrooms online. Normally, they’re shipped from Europe, but this does not make them legal in Canada.

It’s easier to buy magic truffle grow kits, though. They’re less “legally questionable” since they don’t contain psilocybin or psilocin.

Are Magic Truffles Legal in the US?

When it comes to federal law, magic truffles are illegal in the US.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, psilocybin is a Schedule I substance, making mushrooms, truffles, and any other product containing it, illegal.

However, states have the power to create their own laws and regulations. So, are magic truffles legal in US states?

Oregon was the first and only state to decriminalize the possession and use of small amounts of certain drugs, including magic mushrooms and truffles, in November 2020.

They also approved a measure to implement a state-run program to legalize and oversee the medicinal use of psilocybin products to treat an array of mental health conditions. Washington, D.C. passed similar decriminalization laws recently.

In California, the Decriminalize California organization has a strong movement going on for the state-wide decriminalization of psilocybin — it may get its way as soon as November 2022 when the state elections come around.

But at smaller local levels, the possession and use of small amounts of magic mushrooms and truffles have already been decriminalized in the following municipalities:

• Oakland and Santa Cruz, California
• Denver, Colorado
• Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Seattle, Washington

In New Mexico, you can legally grow magic mushrooms and truffles as long as you eat them fresh. Drying and storing them is still illegal, as well as selling.

In Florida, the possession, sale, and use of magic truffles and mushrooms are illegal. However, you can buy, possess, and distribute Psilocybe spores since they don’t contain psilocybin. Still, cultivating these spores into maturity could constitute a serious crime — you can be charged with manufacturing a controlled substance. There’s a loophole in the legislation, though. Psilocybe mushrooms, including some that grow magic truffles, naturally grow in Florida. If you harvest them you could be prosecuted but you’ll only be found guilty if criminal intent to commit a crime is proven — proceed at your own risk.

Are Magic Truffles Legal in Europe?

Psilocybin and psilocin are illegal in most European countries, making both magic mushrooms and truffles illegal.

However, in the Netherlands, the law only mentions mushrooms. Because sclerotia technically aren’t mushrooms, the production, sale, possession, and consumption are legal in the country.

Since September 2019, magic truffles are fully legal, taxed, and sold over the counter in the Netherlands.

In Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Serbia magic mushrooms (and truffles) are decriminalized. This means that possession and consumption are not crimes but the production and sale are.

Like much of Europe, psilocybin and any part of magic mushrooms, including sclerotia and magic truffles, are illegal in Germany even for medical uses. Anything containing psilocybin was already illegal. But it was legal to sell grow kits since they didn’t contain this substance. People could then grow magic mushrooms at home. These grow kits are now banned after an amendment to their 1993 Executive Order 698 was passed, closing the “grow kit loophole.”

Key Takeaways

It’s time we start taking magic truffles seriously. They can have all the same properties and benefits as magic mushrooms but are, somehow, largely unknown to the general population.

Due to their different legal status in the Netherlands, they’re much easier to access online than magic mushrooms.

Have you ever tried magic truffles? How was your experience? Or are you planning to try them soon? Let us know in the comments below!

Sources

1. Pellegrini, M., Rotolo, M., Marchei, E., Pacifini, R., Saggio, F., & Pichini, S. (2012). Magic truffles or Philosopher’s stones: A legal way to sell psilocybin? Drug Testing and Analysis, 182-185.
2. Psychedelic Spotlight: The Psychedelic News Source — What Are Psilocybin Truffles? Are They Safe?
3. MagicTruffles.com — All You Need to Know About Magic Truffles (PDF)
4. Shrooms247 — Buy Shroom Truffles
5. DEA — Drug Fact Sheet: Psilocybin (PDF)
6. Way of Leaf: Psychedelics — Is Psilocybin Legal in the USA?
7. Double Blind Mag — The Tragic Story Of Magic Truffles: The Elusive Wild Psilocybe
8. Trip Sitter — Are Psychedelics Legal in Germany?

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