MycoProtein 101

What Does MycoProtein Mean?

September 10, 2025 · 1 min read

A Shiitake mushroom beside a pile of protein powder on a wooden board

Short version: MycoProtein is protein made with fungi. Ours is plant protein that's been fermented with mushroom roots (mycelium), plus five mushrooms in every scoop. Here's the longer version.

Where the word comes from

"Myco" comes from the Greek word for fungus. It's the same root as mycology, the study of fungi, and mycelium, the web of root-like threads a mushroom grows from. Put it in front of "protein" and you get protein made with fungi.

The term has been around since the 1980s, when it was used for meat alternatives made from a microfungus. Today it covers a growing group of foods made by growing or fermenting with fungi.

How ChagaRoot MycoProtein is made

Ours isn't a meat alternative. It's a protein powder, and it's made in three steps:

  1. Start with plant protein. Pea and rice protein. Nothing exotic yet.
  2. Let Shiitake mycelium ferment it. Mushroom roots go to work on the protein, like a starter does for sourdough.
  3. Add four more mushrooms. Lion's Mane, Reishi, Turkey Tail and Chaga join in.

Other brands add mushrooms to protein. We ferment protein with mushrooms. That's the whole idea in one sentence.

Why ferment protein at all?

Fermentation is one of the oldest food techniques there is. It's how we get bread, yogurt, cheese, miso, kombucha and even coffee. Each time, a living culture changes the food it works on. We use it to build mushrooms into the protein itself, instead of stirring mushroom powder in at the end.

What's in a scoop

  • 20g of plant protein in Chocolate, 19g in Vanilla, per 2-scoop serving
  • A complete protein, with a PDCAAS score of 1.0
  • Five mushrooms: Shiitake, Lion's Mane, Reishi, Turkey Tail and Chaga, all 100% USA-sourced
  • Sweetened with monk fruit and allulose. No stevia.
  • Vegan, gluten free and non-GMO

How people use it

Shake it with milk, blend it into a smoothie, stir it into overnight oats, froth it into coffee for a mocha, or bake it into pancakes and muffins. Our recipes are a good place to start.

Want to see it side by side with whey, plant and pea protein? Here's how MycoProtein compares.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Keep reading