Mushroom Extraction 101: Single, Dual, and Supercritical™ Explained

Think you’re getting the full benefits from your mushroom supplement? You'll want to read this.  Because consuming mushrooms isn't the goal, it’s really about those beneficial compounds coming out of the mushroom and going into your body where they can be readily used - and that's where extraction is extremely helpful. But here’s the catch... not all extraction methods capture all the compounds, and therefore all the benefits. If you're curious about mushroom supplements then you'll want to learn the difference so you know which to choose.  

Let’s break down single, dual, and our new Supercritical™ Full-Spectrum extraction, and why it matters for your health.

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Not all mushroom products are in the same concentration. Discover why water-only and dual extracts fall short — and why MYCOfactor’s Supercritical™ method sets a new standard.

What Is Extraction — And Why Does It Matter?

When we talk about functional mushrooms, we’re not just talking about food. We’re talking about the bioactive compounds inside them — the molecules that support focus, resilience, immunity, and long-term brain health.

The problem? Those compounds are locked inside chitin — the same indigestible armor you’d find in crab shells. Eat a mushroom straight, and you’ll get some nutrients, but most of the good stuff stays trapped.

Extraction is the science of unlocking those compounds and making them bioavailable. But not all extraction is created equal.

Stage One: Single Extracts (Hot Water Only)

This is the cheapest and most common method — especially for gummies, powders, and basic tinctures. Hot-water extraction requires no special equipment, no real science. Just boil, strain, bottle.

Water will pull out beta-glucans, the immune-supporting polysaccharides often advertised on labels. Companies love this because beta-glucans are easy to test for, so they can say “lab tested” and make it sound like a flex.

But here’s the truth: water doesn’t touch the alcohol-soluble or fat-soluble compounds like triterpenes, hericenones, and erinacines. So with water-only extracts, you’re literally getting half the mushroom.

Stage Two: Dual Extracts (Water + Alcohol)

Some companies go further and add an alcohol extraction. This captures both the water-soluble beta-glucans and the alcohol-soluble fraction. Dual extracts became the “gold standard” and are a step up from single extracts.

For many at home extract makers and some companies this can mean soaking mushroom powder in alcohol for a usually long period of time and then blending it with a water extract. It’s a crude process, it's inexpensive, low-tech, and inconsistent but it gets more compounds than water alone.

For us obviously we go a step further and use an interesting scientific process called vacuum distillation and a fancy looking machine called a rotovap. This machine creates a vacuum so that the ethanol inside boils at a lower temperature. (If you've ever been to a high elevation you know that cooking temperatures are different where theres less oxygen, same concept). So this lower boiling point protects delicate compounds while still removing and concentrating them without harsh heat. This precision step ensures we’re not just pulling “something” out — we’re pulling the right compounds out and most importantly not burning them away in the process.

But even here, it's not perfect. Many delicate highly fat-soluble compounds are still left behind. So often, these dual-extracts are inconsistent and you're not getting enough of the delicate active compounds.

Stage Three: Supercritical™ Full-Spectrum (Our Standard)

Person in a MYCOfactor lab setting with Supercritical extraction equipment

At MYCOfactor, “good enough” and "what everyone else was doing" wasn’t good enough. Don't get me wrong here, it was great, I want to make a point to say it was the best technology available available for so long and up until this point so any dual-extract made with vacuum distillation was always what you wanted. However we built a process that doesn’t just extract more — it extracts what matters in a level never achieved before.

Introducing our three-phase Supercritical™ Full-Spectrum process and it works like this:

  • Supercritical CO₂: captures fragile highly fat-soluble molecules (like hericenones in Lion’s Mane) that hot water or alcohol would miss.
  • Ethanol: draws out the alcohol-soluble compounds.

  • Water: cracks the rest open, releasing polysaccharides like beta-glucans and boosting bioavailability.

The result is a true full-spectrum extract — the closest thing to the mushroom’s natural chemistry, concentrated and body-ready.

What Does Supercritical Actually Mean?

This gets a bit sciency but bear with me...
“Supercritical” describes a rare state of matter. When carbon dioxide aka CO₂ is placed under the right combination of temperature and very high pressure, it becomes both a liquid and a gas at the same time!

In this state, CO₂ acts as a super-solvent:

  • Like a liquid, it dissolves complex fat-soluble compounds.
  • Like a gas, it penetrates tiny spaces and extracts delicate molecules without damaging them.

This matters because many of the most powerful mushroom compounds are fragile and fat-soluble. Hot water destroys them, and alcohol often misses them. Supercritical CO₂ captures them gently and cleanly — and when the process is done, the CO₂ simply evaporates, leaving no residue behind.

Fun fact: Another way this technology is used is to remove the caffeine from coffee beans in order to make decaf coffee!

So Why Does This Matter To You?

If your mushroom product is just a hot-water extract (think: imported powders, any gummies, mushroom coffee, anything with a very high extraction ratio), you’re missing half the picture. Even dual extracts leave compounds behind. A good dual-extract made with vacuum distillation was great but not perfect. But with Supercritical™ Full-Spectrum, you finally get all the bioactives in the concentration we needed for an adult human body, as we always wanted.

When we say potency, we mean it.

When we say bioavailable, this is why.

When we say full-spectrum, it actually is.

Extraction isn’t just jargon and it's definitely not something to worry about "losing" the the quality of the mushroom. It's quite the opposite actually. It ensures the active compounds you want are freed from the tough chitin cell walls and ready to be taken in by your body in much higher concentrations. The extraction method is highly specific yet it uses natural ingredients. A proper extraction is the difference between something that works — and something that’s just clever marketing.

I'm so excited to be the first to apply this technology to mushrooms and offer the first commercially available Supercritial™ Full-Spectrum extract range in the world. I truly believe this is the way forward and will set the new benchmark for all functional mushroom products and and even pave the way for new achievements in natural wellness. This is just the beginning and I'm so thankful that you're on this journey with me.

As always, here’s to the power of mushrooms, the wonder of science, and a future of wellness that’s as honest as it is effective.

Warmly,
Rachel
Founder of MYCOfactor