Lion's Mane: The Shaggy Mushroom Cooks Love

This mushroom looks like a pom-pom. Or a waterfall of icicles. Or, if you squint, a lion's mane. Meet Hericium erinaceus.

What it looks like

Lion's Mane doesn't have a cap and stem like most mushrooms. It grows as a white, shaggy ball of soft spines that hang down like a beard, which is why it's also called bearded tooth or pom-pom mushroom. As it ages, it turns from bright white to a pale yellow-brown.

Where it grows

In the wild, Lion's Mane grows on hardwood trees like oak, beech and maple, often on dead or wounded trunks. Look for it in late summer and fall in temperate forests across North America, Europe and Asia. Today most Lion's Mane is grown on farms, on logs or bags of hardwood sawdust.

How cooks use it

Lion's Mane is one of the few functional mushrooms that's also a great eating mushroom. Cooks compare its texture to crab or lobster. Tear it into pieces, press it in a hot pan to brown, then finish with butter and salt. It has been eaten across East Asia for centuries.

Why it's in MycoProtein

Lion's Mane is one of the five mushrooms in every scoop, alongside Shiitake, Reishi, Turkey Tail and Chaga. We use the fruiting body, and it's 100% USA-sourced.

Known for: focus support.*

Meet the rest of the lineup in Mushroom 101, or try it in a protein mocha.