Texture Improvement of Whole Lion's Mane Fruit Bodies

Project Background:
I’m working on developing a food product based on whole, large Lion’s Mane mushroom fruit bodies. These will be prepared in some form (cooked and pressed into approx 1" thick flat shape) and flavored (liquid marinade or dry spice rub), then packaged (likely vacuum sealed), frozen, and sold to market.

Goal:

• Create a more meat like texture with less of the sponge and pop mouth feel that’s typically associated with mushrooms, especially in the thickest sections of the mushroom.
• Maintain large size and thickness

Limited Success:
So far I’ve had only limited success employing dehydration (warm air 105-120F) at various stages of the process, but non have created exactly what I’m looking for. The unfortunate result of dehydration is that while it does improve texture, it also shrinks the overall size of the product.

Yet to test:

• Natural chemical treament (i.e. baking soda, gums, etc)
• Freeze drying
• Fermentation

Help Needed:

• Does anyone have a suggestion how to achieve a more meat-like texture from a whole Lion’s Mane fruit body that will mostly maintain the overall shape and size?

Much appreciated!!

There is toomuch fiber in Lions mane than protein,as per100 grams of dried lions mane contains only 2.4 grams protein…So thats likely the reason of the peculiarity you experience. If you fortify it with soy ,pea or other veggie hydrated protein ,before Dehydration the texture might improve.?
Or if you dont want to add another protein adding hydrated hydrocolloids before Dehydration might give some texture improvements?

Thanks Roy! I’ll look into your suggestions.
I was also not aware of the low protein content.

I just received some freeze dried mushrooms yesterday, which improved the texture, but unfortunately I was only able to obtain small pieces, and I really need large portions.

If anything else comes to mind, let me know!
Cheers.

Qoute" If anything comes to mind"…?
Certainly…You should not fell in love with your project idea,but you have to exhaustively scrutinize for any information that you know about the item in mind.
Thats the common mistake of newbie researchers…They treat their idea like a beloved girlfriend./boyfriend ( which is faultless) …
That should not be the case .

You should be impartial so you can conduct self criticism and deep study and be able to identify the pros and con dispassionately.

Ask yourselves many times ,how much do I know about this item i want do a study.?What are the characters of the end product. ?

What components can be functional in this project and how to attain the desired end product. What happens if I dont get the desired results .What remedial procedures do I have to apply.
What
Do I know the science and technology behind the material and the output.?

I see in this idea of yours ,YOU DID NOT …because if you do you should not be asking questions soon if you know the the true characteristics of this particular item and the expected results…