Shroomshots Brings Mushroom Benefits to the Mainstream

Shawn Dunn’s passion for foraging started six years ago in Los Angeles when he attended a class with renowned forager and wild-food-crafter extraordinaire Pascal Baudar.

“He inspired me to learn more about local plants and fungi in the Los Angeles area,” Shawn says.

Thereafter, Shawn, who earned a bachelor of arts degree in urban and environmental policy from Occidental College in 2015, started making his own wildcrafted creations including kombucha, tea, tinctures and more. Although he doesn’t utilize his degree directly, it helped shape his ideal for the world—where humans and nature can reconnect and live in harmony.

In 2018, while working in San Luis Obispo and teaching foraging classes, he realized that mushrooms still had a bit of a bad reputation in the mainstream. “Mushrooms are very foreign to most people. Typically, you’ll hear in the news how they are poisonous,” he says. “There are so many species of mushrooms and I wanted to turn people on to the varieties that have real benefits for human health.” The idea was born to create a mushroom product that tasted good and had mass appeal.

Shawn approached his brother Justin, a tournament poker player attending Humboldt State University. Justin was looking for something natural to keep him alert and awake while he played, so they started looking into edible mushrooms that could help with cognition.

The result of their research was Shroomshot’s first product: Mental Magic. “Each shot contains a live kombucha culture that helps preserve our health and promote healthy bacteria,” says Shawn. The blend also contains lion’s mane mushroom, ashwagandha and blueberry juice.

To have a balanced product line, the brothers then created Golden Immunity, containing turkey tail mushroom, turmeric, ginger, black pepper and a live kombucha culture.

The mushrooms for Shroomshot are purchased from organic farms that grow mushrooms outside on wood. “Mushrooms grow naturally on wood. It’s very important to know that we are not sourcing mycelium that are grown on grain,” Shawn explains. “The vast majority of mushroom products are made with mycelium, which is essentially the root system of the mushroom. They are cheaper and quicker to produce. Mycelium is typically grown on some type of grain and ends up in the final product because it cannot be separated. There are exceptions to this but they are rare. We instead use the ‘fruiting body,’ which is the part of the mushroom you can see. It is more expensive and takes longer to produce, but by using this we can ensure that our customers are getting 100% pure mushroom.”

Since January 2020, Shroomshot is being produced in a commercial kitchen in Westlake Village and the brothers are completely “hands on” with the products. “We are tasting everything all along the way and we truly put in the time and care it takes to make our products the best for the community,” says Shawn. “We believe that food is medicine. What you put into your body is how you feel!”

The brothers also have a goal to become a zero-waste business, moving away from plastic altogether. For now, though, the 100% recyclable bottles are the perfect reusable size for small servings of salad dressing, for camping spice blends or even to save seeds.

Shroomshot is available online as a subscription and from health stores in Ventura County. For more information, visit Shroomshot.co.