Mukti Mushroom Broth: A Sacred Offering for Women’s Nourishment

🪔 from my kitchen to yours 🪔

There are recipes we find in books and there are recipes that find us through life. This mushroom broth is one of the latter.

I’ve made it through countless seasons of my own journey. When my daughter was in the postpartum stage of having her baby I made this soup regularly for the first 40days and beyond. If formed and still does form the basis of many nourishing meals, not just for myself but also for my community when recovering from illness, to rebalance hormones, when emerging from grief, or simply needing to feel held by something warm and true.

Originally inspired by The First Forty Days, this broth has become part of my sacred kitchen rhythm. Over time, I’ve adapted it through the lens of Ayurveda and women’s nourishment with a particular sensitivity to the needs of the postpartum body, the perimenopausal cycle, and those moments when vata takes over and we feel scattered, depleted, or far from centre. This is not just a recipe. It is a ritual, a soft return to the warmth of the body and the wisdom of the earth.

🌿 Why Mushroom Broth?

Mushrooms hold the memory of forests. They are grounding, mineral-rich, and quietly intelligent. Combined with sea vegetables like kombu, and the golden hue of turmeric, this broth becomes deeply replenishing, restoring ojas (vital essence), soothing inflammation, and supporting the immune and nervous systems.

For women, especially, I’ve woven in Ayurvedic ingredients that nourish the subtle body:

• Shatavari for hormonal balance

• Licorice root to soothe and sweeten

• Ashwagandha to rebuild strength and calm

• Dates and lemon zest or amla to bring rasa (taste, essence, emotion) back into the tissues

  🍄 Mukti Mushroom Broth — The Ritual

  You’ll find the full recipe below, but I invite you to approach it not as a task, but as a slow ceremony. Let the chopping be meditative. Let the simmering be like mantra. Bless the pot. Light a candle nearby if you feel called. Let your nourishment become an offering. You might like to enjoy this playlist

  🍄Mushroom Immunity Broth Recipe

  1 white onion peeled and roughly chopped

  2 leeks, green part discarded, white part roughly chopped into coin shapes

  2 tablespoons olive oil or a cooking oil like avocado or coconut oil or ghee

  Sea Salt

  2 cups (85g) fresh shiitake mushrooms or 1 cup (35g) dried

  ½ cup (20g) dried reishi mushrooms (optional)

  1 cup (60g) cremini or white button mushrooms

  2 strips kombu 

  2 medium carrots, washed, peeled and roughly chopped

  4 medium tomatoes, halved with seeds

  3 whole cloves garlic, peeled

  2.5cm knob of fresh turmeric, unpeeled, halved

  2 cups (140g) roughly chopped green cabbage

  1 loosely packed cup (50g) roughly chopped parsley

  2tablespoons lemon zest. 

  6 fresh curry leaves or a pinch of fenugreek seeds

  1 teaspoon Ashwagandha root

  ½ - 1 teaspoon Shatavari root

  ½ teaspson Licorice root 

  2-3 Gojii berries or medjool dates

  METHOD:

  In a medium pot over medium heat, browns the onions and leeks in the oil with a pinch of sea salt to help with the browning. 

  Quickly rinse the shiitake, reishi (if using) and cremini mushrooms and kombu under running water. Add all the mushrooms, kombu, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, turmeric, curry leaves, ashwagandha, shatavari, licorice and berries to the pot, along with 2.8L of water or enough water to cover the veggies by at least 2.5cm. 

  Cook for 1 hour over medium - low heat, covered. 

  During the last 20 minutes, add the cabbage parsley and lemon zest. 

  TO FINISH:

  Stir in a spoon of ghee + a pinch of warming spice (ground cumin, ajwain, or a whisper of nutmeg)

  Season the broth to taste with salt. 

  Remove from heat and strain. 

  🕯️ A Simple Serving Practice

  When ready, pour yourself a bowl. Wrap your hands around it. Add a spoonful of ghee or a pinch of ajwain if you like.
  Take a deep breath. Let the warmth enter your body not just as food, but as connection. You might even whisper a mantra

  🌸 For the Women Walking This Path

  Whether you are in a season of sacred rest, hormonal shift, emotional release, or simply in need of a kitchen blessing, may this broth be a reminder:

Nourishment is never just physical.
It is energetic, emotional, spiritual.

This is how we restore our sacred rhythm.
This is how we love ourselves back to wholeness.

• Store in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze in zip-tight plastic bags or glass mason jars for up to 3 months.