Guides/Mushroom Guide

This article may contain instructional language and subjective recommendations. Readers should read the content carefully, and follow accordingly.

There are three different types of Mushrooms. Some Mushrooms give extra sanity/health when eaten.

Red Mushroom

Red Mushrooms during Daytime

Red Mushrooms can be found in Grassland or Forest biomes and can be easily identified by their red cap. They are only harvestable during Daytime, during night and dusk they will bury themselves underground. 

Green Mushroom

Green Mushrooms during Dusk

Green Mushrooms can be found in Forests, Savannas and Marshes and can be easily identified by their green caps. They are only harvestable during Dusk; during Day and Night they will bury themselves underground. 

Blue Mushroom

Blue Mushrooms during Night

Blue Mushrooms can be found in Forests and Marshes and can be easily identified by their blue caps. They are only harvestable during Night; during Day and Dusk they will bury themselves underground.

"Sunken" Mushrooms

A buried mushroom cannot be harvested like normal but it can be dug up using the Shovel. Digging up a buried mushroom will produce 2 Caps of the respective mushroom but it will also prevent more mushrooms from growing. If not dug up, a mushroom will regrow shortly after the next Rain.  

Mushtrees

Mushtrees are organisms that can only be found in Caves or during the full moon on the surface in Reign of Giants. Mushtrees are, as their name indicates, a mixture between Mushrooms and Trees. Unlike "normal" mushrooms, Mushtrees cannot be picked or dug up, they have to be chopped down with an Axe. Upon being chopped they will drop the respective loot depending on which kind of Mushtree it was. Just like the mushrooms there are three types of Mushtrees; Red Mushtree, Green Mushtree, and Blue Mushtree. When a Mushtree is set on fire, it will burn to a crisp and then disappear dropping one Ash and one Charcoal. In addition to that all mushtrees provide light.

Red Mushtree

After being being chopped down the Red Mushtree will drop one Log and one Red Cap.

Green Mushtree

After being chopped down the Green Mushtree will drop one Log and one Green Cap.

Blue Mushtree

The Blue Mushtree is the biggest Mushtree and will drop two logs and one Blue Cap.

Mushtrees in-game
	Red Mushtree
	Green Mushtree
	Blue Mushtree

Usage

Each mushroom has a positive and negative effect on all the characters, amounts depend on if it is cooked or not. Mushrooms are treated as vegetables and as such they fit in any recipe that requires them. Examples:

Red Mushroom ("Red Cap")

Red Cap / Cooked Red Cap
	Inventory Icon
Raw
Cooked
-20
1
12.5
0
0
-10
10 Days
10 Days
Stacks up to
40 items
40 items
Sources
Dropped by	Picking it up during Day, Mushtree
Spawncode
Raw	"red_cap"
Cooked	"red_cap_cooked"

• Can be used for hunting Gobblers (see in Tips and Hints section) 
• Best used as a filler for Crock Pot Recipes because its effects are in general rather negative
• Eating cooked can be a slow way to reduce your Sanity when farming nightmare Fuel

Green Mushroom ("Green Cap")

Green Mushroom / Cooked Green Cap
	Inventory Icon
Raw
Cooked
0
-1
12.5
0
-50
15
10 days
10 days
Stacks up to
40 items
40 items
Sources
Dropped by	Picking it up during dusk, Mushtree
Spawncode
Raw	"green_cap"
Cooked	"green_cap_cooked"

• If raw, a good way to reduce your Sanity when farming Nightmare Fuel.
• If cooked, one of the easiest ways to restore sanity.

Blue Mushroom ("Blue Cap")

Blue Mushroom / Cooked Blue Cap
	Inventory Icon
Raw
Cooked
20
-3
12.5
0
-15
10
10 days
10 days
Stacks up to
40 items
40 items
Sources
Dropped by	Picking it up during night, Mushtree
Spawncode
Raw	"blue_cap"
Cooked	"blue_cap_cooked"

• Has the most positive effects when raw, can come in handy to increase Health as well as Hunger.
• Slightly increases your Sanity and is therefore another possibility to counteract the raw Green Mushroom.

Tips and Hints

• Mushrooms are outstanding for decreasing your Sanity in order to farm Nightmare Fuel. The best way to use them is to have couple of one that noticeably decreases your sanity, such as the raw green mushroom and another one to increase your Sanity or your Health when the situation gets out of control and too dangerous. A good choice can be cooked green caps or raw blue caps.
• Simply place a Red Cap somewhere near a Gobbler and wait until it eats the cap. As the eating of an uncooked red mushroom decreases the Health of any creature by 20, since Gobblers have 50 HP, eating 3 raw red caps will kill them.
• Additionally all mushrooms are considered Vegetables and have a Food value of 0.5. You can use them as vegetables in the Crock Pot. In this case the Red Mushroom is pretty handy because in raw condition its only positive effect is the one on your hunger, but since farming them requires a fairly high investment of time (see above: "regrows shortly after it rains") you should just use this mushroom for your food on occasion...
• In particular, 3 mushrooms and 1 Monster Meat will still make Meatballs. In this way, you can turn 4 harmful foods into one decent meal- this is best for the easy to obtain red mushrooms that are too harmful to eat cooked or raw. However, this is primarily for hunger. If you need sanity/health you are best bet is to either eat cooked greens (for sanity) or alternate raw blues (for health) and/or cooked greens (to offset sanity loss of raw blue).
• Another problem with farming mushrooms is that they spoil very fast, so the best way to use them is to have some near your base to collect them every now and then, or to mark their locations on the map by simply placing Signs, the Backpack, Trees, Saplings, Grass, and other stuff.
• Like most of the other plants (although mushrooms aren't actually plants, I know), mushrooms do not regrow during winter since it is technically a "dry" season due to snow instead of rain: snow doesn't hydrate the mushrooms.
• You should think twice before digging a mushroom. Was eliminating the mushroom spawner forever worth the two caps? You should only make use of this option when it's unavoidable or you're in need of the particular mushroom, especially in Adventure Mode where Sanity management is a priority.
• Eating an uncooked Blue Mushroom gives you -15 Sanity and +20 Health. Eating a cooked Green Mushroom however gives you +15 Sanity and -1 Health. If you have stacks of these, quick passage through Obelisks shouldn't be a problem any more.