Turkey tail

What it is

Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor, also called Coriolus versicolor) is a thin, leathery bracket fungus that grows in overlapping fans on dead hardwood. Its caps have concentric bands of brown, tan, gray, blue and cream that do look a bit like a turkey's tail feathers.

Turkey tail is not eaten as a food. It's too tough to chew. People use it dried, as tea, or in capsules and extracts.

Traditional use

Memorial Sloan Kettering's integrative medicine service describes turkey tail as a tonic in traditional Chinese medicine. Today it's marketed mainly for immune support.

Turkey tail is better known than most medicinal mushrooms because of PSK (polysaccharide-K), an extract developed in Japan. The National Cancer Institute describes PSK as an approved mushroom product used for cancer treatment in Japan. It is not approved for that use in the United States.

How it's grown

Turkey tail grows on hardwood logs or supplemented sawdust. It's slow and produces thin fans, so cultivated turkey tail is mostly sold dried or turned into extracts. Products vary a lot: some use the fruiting body, some use mycelium grown on grain, and MSK notes that many over-the-counter products aren't standardized.

Storing it

Keep dried turkey tail sealed, cool and dry, and discard it if it shows mold or a musty smell. Follow the label for extracts and capsules.

Where to buy turkey tail

2 growers in our directory list turkey tail by name@if ($ohio->isNotEmpty()), 0 of them in Ohio. Availability changes with the season and the harvest, so check with the farm before you go.

Does the science say…?

Turkey tail has more clinical research behind it than most medicinal mushrooms, nearly all of it in people with cancer and nearly all using specific extracts alongside standard treatment.

• PSK and cancer. The NCI's summary reports that several trials and meta-analyses found better survival when PSK was added to chemotherapy for gastric and colorectal cancer, with mixed results elsewhere. A 2023 systematic review of mushroom supplements in cancer care, by MD Anderson researchers, found survival benefits with PSK in four gastric cancer studies, and noted that many studies were small and not randomized (Narayanan et al., 2023).
• Breast cancer. A small phase 1 trial gave a turkey tail preparation to women who had just finished radiation for breast cancer. Nine completed the study. The main question was safety, and the preparation was well tolerated; some immune measures changed with dose (Torkelson et al., 2012).
• Safety notes. MSK lists dark stools and darkened fingernails as side effects, advises against use during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and notes that turkey tail can interact with some medications.

None of this means turkey tail tea or capsules will treat or prevent cancer. If you or someone you care for is in cancer treatment, raise supplements with the oncology team before starting any.