Ep 446: Exploring the Surprising Benefits of Functional Mushrooms – With Jake Mellman and Stephanie Moyal

Curious about the benefits of non-psychedelic mushrooms?  Looking for something that can boost your energy and focus while calming anxiety and helping with insomnia?  Cousins and co-founders of Troop functional mushrooms Jake Mellman and Stephanie Moyal were curious about what mushrooms could do for their health and the health of their community.  The result of this duo’s mission was a consicous, eco-friendly functional mushroom gummy company that is rooted in community. In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause interviews Jake and Steph on what they love about the benefits of mushrooms and their drive to create their own Troop of people who love mushrooms.

Resources From The Show:

• Troop’s Website: trytroop.com
• Social Media: @trytroop
• “Healthfix20” – 20% off

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

1:27 – The Troop story

6:45 – Stigma around mushrooms

9:18 – Steph’s favorite mushroom

11:11 – Jakes favorite mushroom

14:11 – Stories from customers

19:11 – Sourcing

23:36 – Triple extraction process

24:47 – The formulation process

27:53 – The challenge of having full control over the ingredients that go into Troop gummies

32:10 – How they came up with the six different blends

33:39 – What does the future look like for Troop?

38:55 – Which mushroom is best for general help with health?

42:01 – Best part about creating Troop

44:02 – Where to find Troop

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[Intro] Welcome to the Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly

fix of tips, tools, and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds, and fit

physiques for life.

JANNINE: Hey health junkies! On this episode of the HealthFix Podcast, I’m interviewing

Steph Moyal and Jake Mellman, their cousins and co-founders of the functional

mushroom company, Troop. And boy, we had a great conversation where we talked all

about the benefits that they’ve seen with their clients and themselves of these

these different functional mushrooms.

Now, this one’s a fun one.

We get into some details,

but we also talk about how they are manufacturing

and processing these mushrooms all in the United States.

How cool is that?

All right, let’s introduce you to Jake and Steph.

– Hey, health junkies.

I have Steph and Jake on.

We’re gonna be talking about

their company True Functional Mushrooms,

Daily Mushroom Goodness.

And we’ve been talking a lot about mushrooms

on the podcast lately,

so I think this is gonna be fun

because I’ll just keep introducing you guys

to the world of mushrooms one day at a time.

So Steph and Jake, welcome to the Health Fix podcast.

STEPH: Thank you. 

JAKE: Thanks so much

for having us.

JANNINE: Now, before we hit record,

I was kind of trying to figure out the dynamic here

in terms of the family company of mushrooms

and you guys are cousins.

So did you guys, as kids, always like scheme up things

and come up with how you’re gonna come up

with an empire at some point in the future?

or did this just kind of happen organically over the years?

JAKE: Yeah, this honestly happened totally organically.

Seven-night, actually, we had actually

schemed up a number of things,

but it was always kind of like just for fun

and never really like taken very seriously.

And the story is what happened to COVID started

March 14, 2020. And on that day, I was actually skiing and I

got into a really horrible ski accident. I was actually in

entrepreneurship and I owned a different company at that time

that I was working on building. And I shattered my leg. So, and

then also simultaneously the COVID pandemic was happening. So

because of the pandemic, my business was crumbling, my leg

was broken. I was just in kind of shambles and I had to move home with my parents. And

simultaneous Stephanie was in hospitality and all the hotels shut down. So she also

lost her job in that time as well. So she agreed to come and move in with my parents

and help take care of me. So it was kind of like she’s helping take care of me. We’re

also just hanging out because it’s COVID time, so there’s nothing much to do.

So we’re watching a lot of Netflix and I’m in the process of healing.

And in that time, Stephanie reads the book, How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan.

And one day just comes to me and asks, hey, do you want to grow some mushrooms with me?

And I was like, sure, it was just another COVID activity.

It was never meant to turn into a business. It was never meant to become our lives by any means.

And I didn’t even know much about mushrooms. I just was like, all right, let’s give it a shot.

So we started growing mushrooms in the closet, like any mushroom entrepreneur would. And

yeah, so that was really fun. And then we kind of started to like really fall in love with mushrooms

and learn more about them, understand their benefits more.

And once we found out, for me,

it was upon seeing the movie Fantastic Pangai,

which is an incredible film if you haven’t seen it.

It was upon seeing that I’ve learned

that mushrooms are like this ancient remedy

for so many health benefits

that are so useful for people today.

And yet it seemed like nobody was talking about this.

It was just like not on the map at all.

And these medicines have been used for thousands and thousands

of years in cultures all around the world

to prevent illnesses and to boost human capacity,

to like boost focus, reduce anxiety,

boost immune system, so many different things

that these mushrooms could do

that we just felt like no one was talking about.

And then we really wanted to share this with our community.

And once we went around,

we checked all the products on the market

of how to share this,

and everything was super ceremonial and kind of like hippie.

And it was like, you have to eat this bag of dirt

if you want the benefits.

And we’re like, that just does not resonate with us at all.

You know, we didn’t come from a health and wellness background.

We weren’t like gurus living in the forest and be like,

we want to share this with our community.

It was like we were just regular people

who were just living our lives working,

trying to make it.

And we wanted to present these mushrooms

to our community in a way that people would take.

So we decided to go with the gummy.

And we were the first mushroom gummy

and the gummy really like exemplified

what we were trying to do with mushrooms,

which was we wanted to demystify them

and make them approachable for everyone

because we saw there was a lot of stigmas,

a lot of fears around mushrooms.

And so we wanted to make it as easy as possible

for someone to try mushrooms

so that we can help spread awareness

of these incredible, powerful medicines.

JANNINE: I mean, incredible thought process, right?

Because you’re looking at the child

in every one of us with gummies, right?

A lot of my patients are like,

I don’t take my regular vitamins, but the gummies.

Now those, my gummies all day long.

And so you have to smile and go,

“Yeah, we’re all kids inside.”

So of course we love these things.

And definitely the stigma is something.

Like you had mentioned, you started growing

your mushrooms in the closet.

A lot of people do think that even the,

’cause maybe they did this in college

with some of the tripping kind of mushrooms, right?

But a lot of people will think, you know,

oh, mushrooms, no thanks.

And a lot of my patients to this day

always have to be like not the tripping kind,

not the tripping.

JAKE: Yeah.

STEPH: Yeah.

[Inaudible]

STEPH: We used to do a bunch of demos in grocery stores

and I would be at Erewhon, which is a really healthy,

kind of like a whole foods here in LA.

And people would ask me, you know,

are these are these magic mushrooms and I’m at the grocery store.

I’m like, no, there’s no way they’re able to sell you these at the grocery store.

And they would still not want to try it.

And when I would ask that, you know, it’s this is just some people, of course,

most people are open and willing, but some people I would explain to them what it is.

And they still don’t want to try it.

And I would say, do you ever have mushrooms on your pizza or in your pasta?

And they would say, yes.

And I was like, well, this is basically the same concept,

except they just have more beneficial properties.

And they still didn’t want to try it,

just because there’s so much fear-based stigma still living.

JANNINE: Yeah, it’s crazy.

And then the other side of it,

and I don’t know if you guys have run into this,

because it is something in the natural medicine space.

A lot of people have been passing around these term,

these concepts of that, if you eat mushrooms

or you take mushrooms, it’s gonna feed candida.

Have you guys heard that kind of wow thing,

the yeast growing in the body?

STEPH: Yeah, I have heard that.

JANNINE: Yeah, it’s another thing that I try to be like,

look, you know, it’s probably not your Lion’s mane

that would do that.

But if we look at all the bread and crackers and treats you,

now we have a different story.

But it is one of those things that I’ve seen.

So Erewhon, are you guys in the Erewhon stores or?

STEPH: Yeah. 

JAKE: Yeah.

JANNINE: Very cool. 

STEPH: Yeah.

JANNINE: Very cool. I have had the pleasure of going into the Culver City one, mind blowing experience

there. It’s impressive, right? I call it two whole paychecks. It’s a really cool store,

though, and I like their mission because I know that and in this is something that you

know, guys who are listening, I want you guys to think about this, Erewhon does not just

take any brand. They’re not just taking anybody. They bring folks in who have met certain standards.

are very particular about things. So that is awesome that you guys are in the Erewhon

stores. They’re they are fancy. So tell me this, I want to know from both of

you, like what what are your favorite mushrooms? Like which ones are you drawn

to like what speaks to you and tell us a little bit about why you like them. Like

you were talking about your leg being broken. I’m going okay did was our

particular mushroom that helped Jake with you to heal up your leg. Give us a scoop

guys. 

STEPH: Yeah, I was instantly drawn to Lion’s mane. So Lion’s

mane for those who don’t know, I always call it the brain

mushroom, it has incredible properties for shielding your

brain against cognitive diseases and aging. And they’re

actually studying it studying it as a treat potential treatment

for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and other neurological

ailments. So I was really drawn to that because dementia runs

in my family and I’ve seen people just completely kind of disintegrate.

It’s really, really sad.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen someone get dementia, but to live this beautiful, amazing

life and then not remember it at the end of the day has always been something where I’m

like, that’s one of the most cruel things that can happen to someone.

So when you take lines, it helps shield your brain from the effects of aging and it potentially

mitigates these side effects.

So I’m like, if I can take something every day that’s delicious that I enjoy taking,

why wouldn’t I do this?

So lines made for me is like speaks to my heart.

And it has other awesome properties too.

It helps with your gut health.

It helps with nerve damage.

We actually work with a doctor on our medical advisory board who uses it a lot for patients

who have nerve damage.

And yeah, it’s just kind of it looks like a brain too.

And I always look at foods that natural foods like pecans, for instance, or walnuts.

I’m like 

JAKE: Walnuts.

STEPH: Yeah.

Like I, I, I’ve been loving pecans and they look like brains.

And I’m like, I bet that this is really good for my brain.

I need to look it up.

But you would just think like nature kind of has these hints that it sprinkles in in

lines when you look at it really does look like a brain and it is amazing for your brain.

So that is definitely my favorite mushroom.

JANNINE: Gotcha.

Gotcha.

you Jake, what’s yours?

JAKE: My favorite mushroom is Reishi.

So Reishi is known as the elixir of immortality.

It’s been used for thousands of years.

It’s widely documented use.

It actually is in some like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics

where Reishi was actually worth more than gold

because of its incredible healing benefits

incredible healing powers. So it’s incredible for your immune system. People report getting sick

less often because the immune system is boosted. It’s full of adaptogens. It’s full of antioxidants.

And it has an immediate effect of anti stress, anti anxiety. So it reduces the cortisol levels

in your body, which helps you deal with stressors. So for me, when I take this, I have traditionally

suffered from chronic insomnia for many, many years of my life. And it was anxiety related

insomnia. So I would be, you know, laying in bed at night, and I would be staring up at the ceiling

for five, six hours straight with just running thoughts, running, running, running, running,

nonstop until like 7 a.m. and then I sleep for two hours. And I probably got an average

of four or five hours of sleep for like maybe 10 years, maybe more. And Rishi has significantly

helped me. I take it at night and it doesn’t make you tired and like sleepy, like a melatonin would,

it just decreases the anxiety that you feel in your body, this physical sensation of distress

anxiety and it helps me sleep like so much and it helps a lot of our customer sleep.

Although it’s not designed like it’s not only for sleep, you know, some people take it in the

morning, they have a stressful day and it’s not going to like make you fall sleep and tired but it

just really helps with that anxiety that for me has blocked sleep.

Jannine: Gotcha, yeah, I wouldn’t have thought about that but at the same time, you know, I think about

mushrooms is being kind of adaptogenic, right? They kind of helped us to adapt to life and

and some of the things we need in the moment. And definitely a lot of people are looking for

brain support nowadays. You know, so the Lion’s mane is very popular. And then with the ratio in

the sleep, I’m going, huh, there’s a lot of people who are trying to figure out ways to get the

sleep aid without the melatonin hangover. Or, you know, as older ladies who are dabbling in the

and the bioidentical hormones and the progesterone

and not wanting to hang over from that.

So I’m like, okay, okay, Reishi, Reishi,

what have you guys heard from your customers

in terms of like mind-blowing things?

You’re like, I didn’t know that could do that

or oh wow, that’s impressive.

What stories you got from your customers?

STEPH: The two that for me come to mind.

So we have one customer who was never able to donate blood

and always wanted to.

And she said that after taking the supertramp regularly,

which is our six mushroom blends that has lines main,

Reishi, Chaga, Maitake, Cordyceps, and Turkey tail.

She said after taking that regularly

and that was the only thing that changed,

her iron levels significantly increased.

And for the first time in her life,

she was able to donate blood.

So that was a really cool story.

And we have a significant amount of other customers

who give this to their kids who have been prescribed

ADHD medication and they don’t want their kids taking that.

So they’ll take lines made before school and the teachers actually notice a difference

and we’ll tell the parents and say that they’ll know if they didn’t take it that morning.

And we have parents who will give their kids the race sheet to help them just naturally

calm down when they’re bouncing off the walls and everything like that.

So those have been two situations that have been really cool that I wouldn’t have necessarily

expected.

JANNINE: Yeah, yeah, no me either. I mean, it’s definitely impressive with with the iron and yeah, and you know

I’ve not heard that before so yeah, that’s yeah

JAKE: That was that was a interesting one. She said it was the only thing that changed and her doctors were like blown away. They’re like

How’d you do this?

JANNINE: Yeah, well, I mean iron deficiency is kind of interesting in in the medical world because

Sometimes we’ll give people iron and it doesn’t like it, you know,

like a natural version of iron. It doesn’t help.

We try different things. Nothing seems to work. And we’re like, what do we do?

All right.

[Inaudible] 

STEPH: Yeah.

That was me. I was super iron deficient growing up.

And I was like, my hair was shedding so much.

I would be at school and people would be like, there’s so much hair on your

sweatshirt and I would feel so weak and it was horrible.

I felt like I was going to faint every time I just like took a few steps

And my body wasn’t absorbing the iron.

Like sometimes you take iron and your body doesn’t absorb it.

So I think being in this, uh, in the gummy, it actually, it’s in this very

bioavailable tincture.

So I think that helps the body actually absorb it better.

Cause I was just taking pills that I was most likely like peeing out.

JANNINE: Yeah.

It’s entirely possible.

It.’s entirely possible.

JAKE: And as an adaptogen, I think it actually helps with your body’s absorption of iron.

You know, I think it actually not just providing the iron, but it actually helps

your body absorb other sources of iron as well.

JANNINE: I don’t doubt it.

I mean, it’s, I’ve never thought about it before.

So now I’m like, Oh, all right.

Definitely going to add that one to the repertoire of things to try for folks

because why not?

Why not?

JAKE: Yeah.

JANNINE: So what kind of stories have you heard, Jake, that, that you kind of blew

your mind a little bit about the mushrooms?

JAKE: Yeah, one that comes to mind that felt really great was a woman was telling me, one of our

customers, that her mom suffers from Alzheimer’s.

And it’s been really bad.

And for a long time, it’s been very challenging for them.

And she started giving her mom, Lion’s Mane.

And she said she noticed within like 30 to 60 minutes,

noticed a significant improvement in her memory

and like was sharper and more there

and more present and back.

And she’s like, it was amazing.

And her mom felt comfortable taking it

because it was an agami versus like here, take these pills.

It’s just like, have some gummies.

So that was really cool to hear

because it was just like such a direct impact

of what we were doing on this person’s life.

Like for her to be present with her mom once again,

even if it’s for a short duration of time

to get that clarity again must be so meaningful and powerful.

So it was, yeah, it feels good to like hear these stories

and know that what we’re doing is actually creating

a difference for people.

JANNINE: Yeah, no, I mean, it’s incredible when you’re seeing change like that in significant factors,

like especially when it comes to getting a little bit of your life back.

Because as that mentioned before, it seems absolutely cruel to have someone have a beautiful

life and then not be able to remember things, not be able to interact.

I mean, it’s hard.

It’s a hard one.

So with truth, what’s behind the name?

I’d like to know that.

And then we’ll dive into some sourcing and things like that

’cause I know a lot of folks who listen to my podcast

wanna know like where are you getting the mushrooms from?

I’m guessing we’ve moved beyond your closet.

So yeah.

STEPH: The sourcing is actually my favorite thing to talk about

just because it was the thing we put our most intentionality

behind the name means a group of mushrooms

that grows together.

That’s what a troop is.

And yeah, it really just speaks to who we are as a company.

We really try to promote connection and community

with everything that we do.

And this company started because we wanted

to support our community, our troop.

So it’s been at the ethos of everything that we’ve done.

And we hope to continue that as we continue

our company’s journey.

And yeah, with the sourcing,

so when we first were doing this,

We were like, if we’re gonna do this,

we’re gonna be the best mushroom gummy.

We’re gonna have the best quality.

So we researched every single mushroom farm in America.

It was super important that we sourced everything

from America because the quality is so much better.

And we would have more control over it as well.

There are a lot of mushrooms that come from China

and not all are bad, but a lot of them are.

There’s a lot of contaminants in the water

and pollutants in the air that get sucked into the mushrooms.

Mushrooms are 90% water.

So if your water is contaminated,

your mushrooms are contaminated.

And some of these mushrooms actually get

into the USDA certified organic system.

Yeah, I was listening to that from Paul Stamas.

He actually mentioned that.

And so yeah, it’s very, very crazy how that can happen.

So when you are grown in the US

And we have all one mushroom farmer,

all vertically integrated, except for our Chaga,

which is sustainably cultivated

and the most sustainable way in Alaska.

So you can only source X amount of Chaga per year

from these trees and no trees are harmed in the process.

So that was really cool to find that solution.

And then the rest is all grown in Colorado.

And we do a triple extraction.

So I’m not sure if you’ve talked about this before on your podcast.

So the bio-mobile compounds of mushrooms are locked to them to sell walls.

So if you basically took up a ratio and you ground it up,

your body would have a really hard time digesting that and it wouldn’t absorb

the bio-mobile compounds because it’s locked up in the sell walls.

So there’s fat soluble and water soluble compounds.

So you need at least a water and an alcohol extraction.

So our extractor actually works with a testing facility

that we work closely with to continue to test

and evolve the methods to get as much of the compounds

extracted out as possible.

And we use actually, he has a patent pending method.

That’s a triple extraction and is getting

all the beta-glucans, polysacharides, all that stuff.

But the mushrooms actually have,

depending on the mushroom, hundreds more compounds

that people are even knowing about right now

that are super bioavailable to the body

and great for immunity and cognitive function, all of that.

And that can only happen when you’re doing an extraction.

So I know I just kind of threw a lot at you right now,

but that is really, it’s super, super important

to make sure that you’re getting

a quality fruiting body extractive product.

[Adverstisement] Hey, Hellchunkies.

Jake and Steph from True Functional Mushrooms

have given you a little gift for listening to this podcast.

If you enter health fix 20,

you can get 20% off your order of troop functional mushrooms.

All right, let’s get back to the podcast.

JANNINE: Yeah, it’s one of those things, you know,

as we mentioned, I think before we hit record

is the concept of a lot of folks will say

they have the mycelium and we’ve talked about mycelium

versus fruiting body on the podcast before,

but in particular, you mentioned a couple of things

that lit me up in terms of huh, okay.

So with the triple extraction, we’re finding compounds in

mushrooms that we haven’t talked about before. Folks who are

listening might be familiar with beta, glucans, maybe they know

that that’s, you know, one of the things that’s really great for

the immune system. But are you at liberty yet to say some of the

things you’re finding, or at least tell us like what kind of

properties and what kind of benefits are you guys finding

with triple extraction process?

STEPH: Yeah, so the triple extraction allows us to get more out of the

mushroom. So that’s what’s really beneficial about it. And

then the compounds are they vary per mushroom. But for for

Chaga, for instance, a ton of immune, you know, modulator so

help benefiting your immune system and adaptogens and

antioxidants and just a whirlwind of properties that

reinforce the effectiveness of Chaga. And that is the same

thing for the other mushrooms that caters to each mushroom and

the number of compounds we’re extracting does vary per

mushroom. 

JANNINE: Okay. Okay. And so then once you get the through the triple extraction process,

then I’m guessing you’re taking and sound like you said like a tincture format. Yeah.

So we’ve got a liquid that goes into the gummy. It’s like the different gummies, correct?

STEPH: Yeah. Yeah. 

JANNINE: Okay. I think a lot of people might be thinking, I’m kind of a geek. So I’m like,

okay, so we got a liquid, it got to get it to gummy. Are we homogenizing? Are we using like,

How does it work?

How do you get a liquid into a gummy and then an output of gummy?

What’s the process?

What’s happening with that?

How are you making the gummies?

JAKE: That’s a very cool chemistry project actually.

It involves a lot of chemistry and basically you just cook it into your gummy.

So, in the process of cooking the gummy, you need a liquid inside the gummy.

So you use the extract, the extract tincture

as the liquid in the gummy.

But of course the extract has a lot of flavor

because it’s really concentrated mushroom extract.

So you need to offset it with different flavor profiles

and citric acid and all these different levels.

And to not just mask the flavor,

but we wanted to also make it delicious as well.

So we actually spent about a year on formulation alone

and just formulating and formulating to get the ultimate

product that tasted amazing so that you can take

these mushrooms every single day.

Like our original goal when we started was to make a one

for one replacement with the best mushroom supplement

out there, which we found at the time was a tincture.

And we wanted it to be a one-for-one replacement

that if you take your dose of our gummies,

which is two gummies a day,

you would get the same amount of mushrooms

that you would get from the tincture

and the same amount of mushrooms

you would get from a powder,

but in a delicious gummy,

so that there was no hesitation to switch over to a gummy

because it’s like you’re getting the same amount

of mushrooms and just a much more delicious

and easy for that.

JANNINE: Well, I can attest to that.

anyone who’s ever had a tincture, there’s not many that taste good.

And yes, I can imagine mushrooms taste much like earth and dirt.

JAKE: Yeah.

STEPH: And they can be super bitter.

The Rishi was a really challenging one to mask the flavor of.

And it’s actually ended up being, uh, they’re, they’re honestly delicious.

Yeah.

It might be my current favorite.

I don’t know.

They’re all so good.

So the Rishi is a mixed berry flavor.

And the Lion’s mane is a peach mango.

And the super troops six mushroom blend

is strawberry passion fruit flavored.

And they’re honestly all extremely delicious.

And they’re made with all natural fruit flavors.

And they’re colored with fruits and vegetables.

So it’s a super healthy gummy, no artificial ingredients

or anything like that.

JAKE: Yeah, no corn syrup, no preservatives, anything.

JANNINE: That is, you know, obviously, if you guys are in Erewhon, you definitely don’t have any of those

things. But for the folks that aren’t familiar with what Erewhon is, I mean, they’re standards,

like you’ve been, you’ve been vetted. And that’s quite a bit. And especially with natural flavors,

a lot of people will go, Oh man, that means there’s got to be synthetics. And I’m like, well,

there are ways to do it differently. So it was that part of your year long process of finding

the right flavor was mixing the ones and finding it.

STEPH: Yeah, and not only that, but so most times when a company is trying to start a gummy,

they’re going to go to a manufacturer and a manufacturer will have different products

that they’ll sell to the same company. I mean, sorry, the same company that they’ll sell to different

products. So for instance, if you want an apple cider vinegar gummy, you can go to any of these

big manufacturers, they’re making millions and millions of these gummies a day and then

selling it to different companies to put their branding on it.

It’s called private label.

So when you do that, you’re subjected to their ingredients, their sourcing, all of that stuff.

So when we were reaching out to all of these gummy companies, we asked for sourcing and

traceability, especially for the mushrooms, and they couldn’t even tell us where they

or grown or anything about the mushrooms or the extraction.

And that was the same thing with the flavors

and the colors and all of that.

And we really did not want to be subjected to that.

We wanted to have full quality control over our product.

So we basically chose the path of most resistance.

We ordered all of our own ingredients,

which is pretty much unheard of to do,

especially as a small company.

We ordered everything coming from different vendors,

handling all of the purchasing and the logistics.

And it was honestly, I ended up being such a nightmare

because we had a really difficult journey

finding our manufacturing partner.

We had, excuse me, we had like six companies

we were working with we had bounced from

’cause none of them could make our gummy

the way that we wanted it.

And so we’re shipping all of our ingredients,

all of our custom molds, all of our mushrooms.

It was a logistical hellhole that we finally are out of

and now have a great partner.

And yeah, it was just such a challenging journey

that almost took down the company, honestly.

It was that challenging.

JANNINE: You know, I’m glad that you share that

because I think a lot of people don’t realize

that in the supplement industry,

there are main formulators, encapsulators,

gummy makers, et cetera.

There’s folks that just privately

for a bunch of people.

And when you’ve gone to the steps

to make something all together yourself.

I mean, that’s huge.

That is really huge.

So thank you.

STEPH: Thank you.

JAKE: Thank you.

JANNINE: That is impressive.

Now, are you also manufacturing in Colorado too?

Or just growing the mushrooms in Colorado

and Alaska for those?

STEPH: Yeah.

Yeah, we make our mushrooms in California.

And they are ships.

– The gummies, yeah.

– Sorry, the gummies.

We make the gummies in California

and they’re shipped not so far away.

So we also, we try to be really mindful of the carbon footprint.

I know we were moving things around a lot, but, um, you know,

we really did not want to be doing that.

We were really, really mindful of the planet and we manufacture in California

and our fulfillment center is only a few miles away.

So that’s really great.

Few transport and we are bottles made out of a hundred percent recycled

plastics.

So was our caps, our boxes that we send out products are made out of a hundred

percent recycled cardboard. And we really just tried to put the planet as well first.

And introducing no-virgin plastics is something that we really, really wanted to try to do.

JANNINE: Wow. Wow. You know, it’s a feat. And I think a lot of people, you know, give credit to

any company who’s just trying because I know just being on the other side of different

development things. It’s a logistical nightmare, but also, I mean, it’s a commitment. And you

guys definitely put that together there. So I’m looking at the products and you would

mention the six blend of mushrooms in the Super Troop Blend. Now, with that blend, did

you guys come up with the blend yourself or did you have a you would mention, I think

Jake mentioned that you guys have a scientific advisor, somebody on board.

Tell us about how you guys came up with.

We want these six and these, these ratios and whatnot.

JAKE: Yeah, we did come up with that ourselves.

And that was after a ton of research.

The reason we went with these six is because they are kind of like the

powerhouse six right now that are the most researched back.

So we wanted to really have something that people could feel comfortable, that’s science-backed,

knowing that there’s actual data to show what we’re saying and our claims.

So there’s millions of species of mushroom out there,

and our goal is to be doing the research and launching new gummies with new mushrooms

for new benefits all the time.

But those six were the current like range profile

of the benefits we wanted to offer to our customers

and the most scientifically backed

and researched mushrooms that were kind of out there right now.

JANNINE: Makes sense.

I mean, makes sense to me.

You guys definitely have like it.

Guys, if you go to their website,

they have like this huge frequently asked questions

that like, things out, all of the things

that you guys are looking for more info

in that department.

But no, I mean, it’s, mushrooms are fascinating, right?

And I can see why you guys are super dedicated

to checking things out.

So you had mentioned at this point

you would kind of stop there and I wanna hear like,

what’s next for you guys?

What are you, what are you kind of thinking about?

What kind of things do you wanna dive into next

with mushrooms?

STEPH: Yeah, I think our ultimate goal is to be

the household name of mushroom products.

We want to be a trustworthy source and a leader in education.

And for the first few years, I mean, we actually just,

it’s our two year anniversary this month,

which is really exciting.

For the next foreseeable future,

I think we’re gonna stick to gummies,

but there’s so much we can do here.

We wanna first of all have a dedicated mushroom product

for each of our six mushrooms that’s in the blend.

And we also wanna get into blends too,

using other herbs and adaptogens and creating more natural blends.

And we have three that we want to release this year and very excited about that.

So stay tuned.

We’re, we’re just now kind of percolating on it.

But yeah, it’s very exciting to bring a new product to life.

And I think we’re going to be staying with Gummies for a little.

I don’t know if Jake has any thoughts that he wants to share.

JAKE: No, I love, I love gummies. Definitely staying with gummies and yeah,

launching new products. Also, the future I want to just note like while we don’t

sell like any psychedelics right now, we are still very much interested in them.

And have seen their incredible benefits for the mind and healing things like PTSD

and anxiety and depression, all of these things can be extremely helped and mitigated with the

help of psychedelic therapy and mushrooms. So it’s something that we really want to be on the cutting

edge of and be educating our customer base on. And as the legalization landscape changes,

we definitely want to be present for that and helping people access mushrooms of all kind. You

We think half of the mushrooms scale is under lockdown right now and in jail.

All mushrooms should be legal for sure because they all have benefits and it’s something that

we’re really passionate about and want to be a part of.

JANNINE: Sure.

No, I think it makes sense.

There’s a lot of folks out there who are in my space, let’s say functional medicine

docs, naturopathic doctors who are really helping folks source and get products.

But to do some journeys, to do some breakthroughs, you know, types of things.

But the bottom line is, is there isn’t like that, you know, there’s that, oh, yo, I know

Joel around the corner, you know, who is hopefully growing his mushrooms, you know, the closet

with blue LED lights and fun music, you know.

The bottom line is is finding a household name like you were saying stuff that you know really you’re like okay

I want to take my mushrooms from my my health benefits on the non-tripping level to the level that now

I can go on a journey I can open my mind

I can I can move through some barriers whatever it may be and I think it’s a for us stocks who are

Open to helping folks, you know move through things move into the next level of their life

whatever they may be, you know, having a company that understands the sourcing understands

how important it is to not be just randomly grabbing things from, you know, random Chinese

sources. That’s probably like the best way I can say it. 

STEPH: Yeah. JANNINE: But really understanding where your

mushrooms are coming from, because, you know, I know you guys said you don’t want to be the,

you know, there was a lot of hippie kind of looking companies out there. And I get it. I’m a

naturopath. Like, come on, you know, we crunch granola hard, but you know, I also am like, I get it

because for most of most of society, you know, we don’t want to be looking at a product for like,

how much, you know, like, did someone think about all the things or did they just throw this together

to have a quality product or was this something whipped up in someone’s kitchen, you know?

And so having that basis of a background for the mushrooms is really important and you’ve guys,

you know, and how things are being grown too. I think it’s important and in fact,

they guys have everything in the US and you can trace it all back to that for folks. That’s a

huge talking point, especially in my practice to be able to be like, well, this is the company I

would go with because, you know, they’re doing this, this and this and I know that they’re not getting

things on the black market or something of that nature.

So I would love to hear from both of you in terms of if someone’s just coming to mushrooms

and they’re like, “Okay, I’ve heard you guys talk about the benefits.

I’m not really sure where I would start.”

If they came to Trevor, say they walked into Erewhon and they’re like, “I really want to

just try mushrooms and see what they can do for me in terms of just general help.

Let’s go with general help.”

What would you guys say to them in terms of what to choose, what to look for, how to test

it out, the troop products?

STEPH: Yeah. 

JAKE: Definitely.

STEPH: That’s a great question.

I would say kind of twofold.

If they don’t want anything specific, I would say start with the super troop because that’s

what it’s designed for.

It’s for the person who just wants a little bit of everything and it has six mushrooms

in it, which are all amazing for your immune system.

And when I take it every day and I noticed, you know, for years I wasn’t getting sick

and I was avoiding common colds when everyone else had it around me and my immune system

was just firing.

So I would say start with the super true.

But if they are looking for something more specific, like if they’re very stressed, I

think all of us carry more stress than we give ourselves credit for.

She’s a really good one to incorporate into your daily routine.

Okay.

Chate, what about you?

Yeah.

And I would say, um, you go on our website, trytroop.com, T-R-Y-T-R-O-O-P.com.

Uh, we have a super pack, which is like the starter kit.

It comes with all three products.

It’s discounted.

Um, and so we actually designed the three products to be all three taken daily.

So lines made in the morning, super troop in the middle of the day for a little energy

boost and then ratio at night.

And that was kind of how we designed these three products to be taken.

And that’s how Stephanie and I take them every single day, all three, and a lot of our customers

have moved up to that level of taking all three and getting their full dose of mushrooms

every day.

So yeah.

So I would say give that a try.

And we actually even have a money back guarantee.

So if it doesn’t work for you, there’s literally no risk whatsoever.

But there is that chance that it could work for you really well,

and it could make a drastic impact on your life.

JANNINE: I have no doubt.

I like the way of thinking of it, too.

Yes, if you want to just try one thing and dip your toes in the blend,

And then if you’re like, I want to go all in and see the adaptogenic effect of what

mushrooms can do throughout the day, I like that concept a lot.

And one of the things I think about, you know, a lot of people will, will go to me

and go doc, well, I want to kind of do one thing for my general health as a whole.

I don’t want to be taking things all over the place.

I like that there’s like this, this plan kind of covers all the things and

definitely in terms of what complaints I get from a lot of folks, you know, the brain,

the sleep, you know, all of modern societies complaints that are covered there.

That’s awesome.

That’s awesome.

So before we close up, I would love to hear from either of you or both of you, whoever

wants to chime in on it is, you know, we’ve talked about your history, working together,

we’ve talked about all that.

I would love to hear like in the journey of creating Troop what’s been the most fun for

you along the way.

STEPH: Looks like Jake is thinking.

So I have one.

For me, bringing the product to life is so fun.

It honestly lights me up.

And to do all of the research, know that you’re doing, bringing out the best products possible

and to actually bring something to life is such a cool thing.

So for me, I think, and it was also my first time doing that.

So maybe that’s why.

but that was honestly very, very fun for me,

was to launch it.

JAKE: And that’s it for me.

We did, like Stephanie was saying,

the word troop means a group of mushrooms.

So we really focus on community,

and we’ve done a lot of community events

and bringing people together through health and wellness,

and through mushrooms,

and we’ve gone like did a community mushroom foraging,

and I just love being with the community,

I love meeting new people and meeting people who are interested in health and wellness and mushrooms and

these just these myco-files that are just like so into it and love it and

it’s awesome, for me. It’s really cool because I feel like a lot of mushroom people are amateur

scientists and that’s kind of how I see myself as well. And I just feel like it’s so much fun

engaging with the community like that?

JANNINE: You know, you did mention that, and I would love to hear about that because I think as

we round out things, it’s good for folks to see your connection to the community, giving

back to the community, you know, being part of the community.

Myco-files, I didn’t even know that that word existed.

That’s kind of fun.

So tell us how can folks connect with you guys?

How can they be part of the community?

How can they be fellow, like calling all fellow myco-files there?

How can they join in with you guys?

Where can they find you in terms of online?

Where can they get troop?

And I’ll let you guys take it from here as to all the details.

JAKE: Yeah, so the website would be the best place to learn about us and our products.

And again, that’s trytroop.com, T-R-Y-T-R-O-O-P.com.

And then we’re also on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube all at Try Troop, T-R-Y-T-R-O-O-P.

Instagram is probably our most robust where we’re posting lots of mushroom-related content.

And you can reach out to us there if you want to join our community.

We’ll add you to a private friends list if you’re a fellow myco-file just to get some

more behind-the-scenes things.

Yeah, we would love to hear from you.

If you’re interested in this, we love chatting with people about this.

And, you know, if you mess to just on our Instagram or on through our website, it usually makes it to step rise.

So we’d love to chat with you.

STEPH: Yeah.

And we also, we created a discount code for anyone of your listeners who’d like to try the products themselves for 20% off.

They can use HEALTHFIX20.

JANNINE: Awesome.

Awesome. Guys, we’ll put that in our podcast notes at doctorjkrausend.com along with other highlights

from this podcast. Man, staff, Jake, you guys are doing some great stuff. I want to be part of

the community and hang out and I’m wondering like, okay, so you’ve got your LA connection.

There’s some guessing LA stuff, maybe some Colorado stuff, since you’re kind of connected in there.

Any Alaska stuff? 

STEPH: No, Alaska stuff hasn’t yet. We definitely want to continue to, you know,

spread the mycelial network across the country.

That’s something that we’ll probably be focusing on more

in the near future,

creating hubs and more events and things like that.

But for now we are in LA,

so whenever you come to LA,

let’s go foraging or something cool like that.

JANNINE: Sounds like a plan, love it, love it.

Well, thank you guys so much for coming on.

Guys, head over to try Troop T-R-Y-T-R-O-OP-.com,

check them out,

or head to my podcast notes at doctorjkrausend.com

and we’ll give you all the details there.

Thanks again guys for coming on

and sharing all of such a fun podcast.

Thanks again.

STEPH: Thanks for having us.

JAKE: Thank you for having us.

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