Lion's mane hot chocolate sounds like something dreamed up for a social feed, but the mushroom behind it is very real, very strange-looking and, in Britain, protected by law. We put it in every cup of Shroom Riot, so we think you should know what it actually is. This guide covers the species, what it looks like, where it grows, how it ends up on plates, why we use the fruiting body, and how it tastes once it is folded into cocoa. No claims. Just the mushroom.
Key takeaways
- Lion's mane is Hericium erinaceus, an edible mushroom also called bearded tooth or hedgehog fungus.
- It looks like a white pom-pom of hanging, icicle-like spines and grows on dead and decaying hardwood.
- Wild lion's mane is protected in Great Britain: picking it is illegal.
- Shroom Riot uses the fruiting body, ground to a fine powder, as 25% of a four-mushroom blend.
- In the mug, lion's mane hot chocolate from Shroom Riot tastes like cocoa.
What is lion's mane?
Lion's mane is the common name for Hericium erinaceus, a fungus also known as bearded tooth, bearded hedgehog and yamabushitake. In the Wildlife and Countryside Act it goes by hedgehog fungus. Whatever you call it, it is an edible mushroom, and that is the angle we care about.
Instead of the gills you would find under a supermarket mushroom, it carries its spores on long, hanging spines. That is where every one of its nicknames comes from.
What it looks like and where it grows
Picture a white to pale yellow cushion, roughly the size of a football, covered in soft spines that hang down like icicles. The Woodland Trust describes a fruiting body typically 7 to 25 cm wide, with strands that look like fur. It does look a bit like a mane, if the lion had been through a very cold winter.
It grows on dead and decaying trunks and branches in deciduous woodland, with a preference for beech, oak and birch. In the UK it is mostly found in the beech woods of southern England, and the New Forest in Hampshire is its stronghold. It fruits from late August into December.
Look, don't pick
Here is the bit most lion's mane content leaves out. Wild lion's mane has the highest level of legal protection a fungus can get. It is one of only four fungi listed on Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, where it appears as hedgehog fungus. Picking it, or even possessing a picked one, is illegal. If you are lucky enough to find one on a woodland walk, take a photo and leave it exactly where it is.
Lion's mane as food
Lion's mane is eaten as a speciality mushroom, used in recipes alongside better-known varieties like shiitake and oyster. Cooks tend to prefer younger specimens, and its texture is often described as meaty, enough that it gets tried as a meat substitute.
In a drink, it works differently. Rather than cooking pieces, we dry and mill the mushroom into a fine powder so it can blend into cocoa. That is a fruiting-body powder, not a concentrated extract, and we say so plainly because the two are often sold as though they were the same thing.
Why the fruiting body matters
A mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus: the part above ground that you would recognise as a mushroom. Below it sits the mycelium, a mass of fine threads running through whatever the fungus is growing on.
Some products use mycelium grown on grain instead of the mushroom. Because the mycelium is grown on the grain, the grain carries through into the finished powder. You end up buying something that is part fungus and part grain, under a mushroom name.
The lion's mane in Shroom Riot is fruiting body. It makes up a quarter of the four-mushroom blend, in equal parts with Reishi, Cordyceps and Chaga. The full specification the blend is bought against, including contaminant limits, is on our about page.
How lion's mane tastes in cocoa
Honest answer: in Shroom Riot, you taste cocoa. Rich and chocolatey, with none of the bitterness people tend to expect from a mushroom drink. Lion's Mane is one of four mushrooms in the blend, the blend is milled so at least 98% passes an 80-mesh screen, and it is folded into the cocoa with whey rather than dusted over the top. It dissolves instead of floating.
The ingredient list, in order: whey powder (milk), cocoa powder, maltodextrin, 4-mushroom blend (lion's mane, chaga, reishi, cordyceps), sunflower lecithin, xanthan gum, sucralose. Because of the whey it contains milk, so it is not suitable for vegans or anyone with a milk or dairy allergy.
To make a cup: one heaped tablespoon, about 10 g, into 200 ml of hot water or milk. Stir for 30 seconds, leave it for a minute, stir for 30 seconds more. The usage guide has the cold version too. For the wider picture on the category, see our guide to mushroom hot chocolate in the UK, and if the bitter-mushroom question is the one on your mind, our piece on reishi hot chocolate deals with it head on.
FAQs
What is lion's mane?
Lion's mane is an edible mushroom, Hericium erinaceus, also called bearded tooth or hedgehog fungus. It grows as a white, cushion-shaped mass of hanging spines on dead and decaying hardwood, such as beech and oak.
Does lion's mane hot chocolate taste of mushroom?
Shroom Riot tastes like cocoa. Lion's Mane is a quarter of the mushroom blend, milled fine enough that at least 98% passes an 80-mesh screen, and folded into cocoa rather than sprinkled on top.
Can I pick lion's mane in UK woods?
No. In Great Britain it is listed under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it illegal to pick. If you find one, leave it where it is.
Is the lion's mane in Shroom Riot fruiting body or mycelium?
Fruiting body: the mushroom itself, not mycelium grown on grain. It is a fruiting-body powder, not a concentrated extract, and it makes up 25% of the four-mushroom blend.
Is there a hot chocolate with lion's mane in it?
Yes. Shroom Riot is a cocoa drink with lion's mane in every cup, alongside reishi, cordyceps and chaga in equal 25% parts. You stir it into hot milk or water like any hot chocolate.
Lion's mane: a protected, icicle-covered oddity of the British woods, and a quarter of every mushroom blend in our pouch. If you want to taste it the easy way, in a cup of cocoa, try Shroom Riot Cocoa.
