Tremella: the beauty mushroom

Tremella mushroom is the common name for Tremella fuciformis, an edible jelly fungus. Fresh, it looks less like a mushroom and more like a translucent white frill, somewhere between a sea sponge and a chrysanthemum. A fruit body can reach about 7 cm across, built from thin wavy fronds that go crisp at the edges. Dried, it shrinks to a brittle, pale yellow puck that swells back to size within minutes of soaking.

It has a lot of names. In English you will see snow fungus, snow mushroom, silver ear, white fungus and white jelly mushroom. In Mandarin it is yin'er (silver ear) or xue'er (snow ear). Japanese cooks call it shiro kikurage, and in Korean it is eunibeoseot. Supplement brands often call it the beauty mushroom, a nod to tradition rather than a scientific label.

The species was first formally described in 1856 by the English mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley, working from specimens the botanist Richard Spruce collected in Brazil. It grows mainly in tropical and subtropical regions, on dead branches of broadleaf trees, across much of Asia, Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Australia and the Pacific islands.

Tremella lives in an unusual way. It is a parasite of other fungi. It starts as a slimy, yeast-like film and only forms the familiar frilly fruit body once it finds its preferred host, wood-rotting fungi in the Annulohypoxylon group. That quirk turned out to matter a great deal when people tried to farm it.

Snow fungus has been cooked into sweet soups in China for generations. The flavour is faint, so cooks prize it for texture. Simmered long enough, it turns soft and slippery and thickens the liquid around it. The best known dish is a Cantonese dessert soup, often made with jujubes (red dates), dried longans and rock sugar and served warm or chilled. In Vietnam it turns up in chè, the family of sweet drinks, puddings and dessert soups.

For most of its history it was scarce and expensive, eaten mainly in wealthy and royal households. Folklore links it to Yang Guifei, the Tang dynasty consort remembered as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China, who is said to have eaten tremella soup to keep her complexion. Nobody can check that story. It does explain why the mushroom's reputation leans so heavily towards skin.

In traditional Chinese medicine, tremella is described as nourishing the lungs and replenishing yin. These are descriptions of traditional use within a system that has its own concepts. They are not health claims and were not arrived at through clinical testing.

Cultivation in China is documented from at least the nineteenth century. Early growers set out wooden poles and waited for the fungus to arrive by itself. Results got better when they inoculated the poles with spores, and the real breakthrough came once growers understood that the host fungus had to go in alongside tremella. The modern dual culture method grows both together on sawdust under controlled conditions. By 1997, Chinese production was estimated at about 130,000 tonnes a year, which is how a food once kept for emperors ended up in plastic bags in East Asian supermarkets across the UK.

Fresh tremella is mostly water. Once dried, it is mainly carbohydrate, a large share of it dietary fibre, with a modest amount of protein and very little fat.

The compounds researchers care about are its polysaccharides, which are long chains of sugar molecules. The main one is glucuronoxylomannan, built from mannose, xylose and glucuronic acid. Tremella also contains beta-glucans, the group of fibres found in many mushrooms as well as in oats and barley.

Tremella polysaccharide forms a thick, slippery solution and holds on to water strongly. That physical property explains both its texture in soup and its popularity in skincare. A 2020 study from Nanjing Tech University measured its chain structure and moisture retention in the lab and described it as a promising moisture holding ingredient for food, medicines and cosmetics.

Some guides call tremella a good source of vitamin D. Be careful with that one. Mushrooms can make vitamin D2 when exposed to ultraviolet light, but most dried tremella is not treated this way and labels rarely state a vitamin D content. The NHS advises everyone in the UK to consider a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement in autumn and winter, and a bowl of snow fungus soup is no substitute.

You will also read that its antioxidants, N-acetylglucosamine or glucuronic acid detox the body. Tremella polysaccharides do show antioxidant activity in test tubes. Activity in a test tube says little about what happens once you eat something, and your liver and kidneys handle detoxification whatever is on your plate.

Skin is where tremella's reputation is strongest, so it is worth being precise about what has been tested.

The best starting point is a short 2023 review by Jessica Mineroff and Jared Jagdeo of SUNY Downstate in New York, published in Archives of Dermatological Research (PubMed). It gathers research on tremella extract and skin, covering antioxidant activity, protection from sun damage, wound healing and the skin barrier. The authors are clear that most of these studies were done in cells or animals, and that clinical research in people is still needed.

A few examples of that lab work:

• UV damage in skin cells and mice (2023). Researchers at Fujian Medical University exposed human skin cells (keratinocytes) to UV light. Cells treated with tremella polysaccharide showed less cell death and fewer reactive oxygen molecules. Tremella applied to the skin of mice under chronic UV exposure also reduced visible damage (PubMed).
• Fibroblasts compared with hyaluronic acid (2026). A team at the Medical University of Bialystok in Poland treated human dermal fibroblasts, the cells that make collagen, with tremella extract or hyaluronic acid. At the higher concentration, tremella extract raised collagen production in the dish to a similar degree as hyaluronic acid, by what looked like different routes. The authors say the results need repeating (PubMed).
• Moisture in animal studies. Mice given tremella polysaccharide have shown higher skin moisture and collagen after sun exposure than untreated mice.

What is missing is a published trial in which people swallowed tremella and had their skin hydration or elasticity measured against a placebo. We looked and could not find one. Skincare is a separate question too. A cream puts the polysaccharide straight onto the skin surface, where its water holding property can act directly. When you eat it, large fibre-like molecules like these are broken down or fermented in the gut, and nobody has yet shown how much of any effect reaches the skin.

One question we would love to see tested: whether a daily bowl of slow simmered snow fungus soup, the way Yang Guifei supposedly ate it, does anything a concentrated extract does not. There is no study on it yet.

Human trials on tremella are few and small. Here are the ones we found, with who took part, how much they took and the limits.

• Memory complaints, Korea, 2018. Ban and colleagues at Ewha Womans University in Seoul ran an 8 week randomised, double blind trial with 75 adults who were worried about their memory but had no diagnosed condition. They took 600 mg or 1,200 mg of tremella a day, or a placebo. Both tremella groups scored better than placebo on a memory complaints questionnaire and on tests of short-term memory and executive function. Side effects were reported at similar rates across all three groups (PubMed).
• Prediabetes, Thailand, 2024. Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok gave 56 overweight adults with prediabetes a daily tremella drink or a placebo drink for 12 weeks. In the tremella group, average HbA1c (a long-term blood sugar marker) went from 6.03% to 5.96% and waist size from 95.2 cm to 93.5 cm. No adverse events were reported. The authors called the study exploratory (PubMed).
• Cognitive tasks, Taiwan, 2023. A trial of 64 adults with memory complaints tested an 8 week drink containing fish roe, snow fungus and yeast against placebo. The drink group responded faster and recalled more on card memory tasks and reported less anxiety and fatigue. Because tremella was one of three ingredients, the study cannot tell you what tremella did on its own, and some authors worked for the company behind the drink (PubMed).

None of these trials looked at skin. The largest had 75 people. The Korean trial had only 15 in its placebo group, and neither single ingredient trial has been repeated by an independent team.

Most of the tremella literature is preclinical, meaning it was done in cells or animals. Competitor guides often list these findings as benefits. It is more accurate to see them as reasons scientists keep studying the mushroom.

• Tremella polysaccharides neutralise free radicals in test tube assays and have raised levels of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase in animal tissue.
• In lab studies the polysaccharides activate immune cells such as macrophages, T cells and B cells. Mouse studies have also reported less gut inflammation and more beneficial gut bacteria.
• In a 2007 Korean study, rats given tremella extract at 100 or 400 mg per kg of body weight for 14 days performed better in a water maze after being given a drug that impairs memory, and the extract encouraged nerve cells in a dish to grow longer branches (PubMed).
• Several mouse studies on high fat diets have reported lower blood sugar and triglycerides with tremella polysaccharides.

Animal results rarely carry straight over to people. The rat doses above would be several grams per day for an adult, the memory problem was caused by an injected drug, and a mouse gut handles fibre differently from yours.

If you only read one section of this guide, make it this one. It reflects the published research as of September 2026.

What the evidence shows

• Tremella has a long history as a food in East Asia and has been eaten widely for centuries without reports of toxicity.
• Its main polysaccharide holds water very well in the lab, which is why cosmetic formulators use it.
• In cells and animals, tremella extracts show antioxidant, immune-related and protective effects that justify further study.
• Two small single ingredient human trials, one on memory complaints and one on prediabetes, found differences from placebo, with side effect rates similar to placebo.

What it does not show

• That eating or swallowing tremella changes skin hydration, wrinkles or elasticity in people. No placebo controlled trial has tested this.
• That it prevents or treats any disease, including diabetes or dementia.
• That it works like hyaluronic acid or collagen once swallowed.
• A settled dose. Trials used 600 mg to 1,200 mg a day of tremella or a drink of unstated strength, and products vary widely.

Dried snow fungus is sold in East Asian supermarkets, usually as whole heads. Soak one in cold or lukewarm water for 30 minutes to an hour until it has expanded several times over. Trim off the hard yellowish base, tear the rest into small florets and simmer. Half an hour gives a gentle bite, while a couple of hours turns the broth thick and silky. Add dates, goji berries, pear or longans and a little sugar for the classic dessert soup, or use it in savoury broths where it soaks up flavour. One head usually makes several bowls.

As a supplement, tremella comes as powder to stir into drinks, as capsules and as gummies, and its extracts appear in serums and creams. There is no official daily amount. The single ingredient trials used 600 mg to 1,200 mg a day, so follow the label of the product you buy.

How to choose a tremella product

• The fruiting body is the part people have always eaten. Mycelium products are grown differently and may contain the grain they were grown on.
• A 200:1 extract means about 200 g of dried mushroom went into 1 g of extract. Ratios help you compare, but they are set by manufacturers and are not standardised.
• A stated polysaccharide or beta-glucan percentage tells you more than a ratio alone.
• Read the full ingredient list. Check sugar in gummies, gelatine if you are vegan and any allergens.
• Look for batch testing for heavy metals and microbes, since mushrooms absorb what they grow on.

Do not forage for it. Wild Tremella fuciformis is rare in Britain, and several jelly fungi look similar. The yellow brain fungus you may spot on gorse and dead branches in UK woods is a relative, Tremella mesenterica, and it is not the snow fungus used in food.

Tremella has a long record as a food and no known toxicity. In the 2018 Korean trial, side effects were reported at similar rates in the tremella and placebo groups, and the 2024 Thai trial reported none. The most common complaints people describe with mushroom supplements in general are mild digestive ones, such as bloating or a loose stomach, usually when starting a larger amount.

Speak to your GP or pharmacist before taking a tremella supplement if any of these apply:

• You are pregnant or breastfeeding. There is no safety research in these groups, so food amounts are the sensible limit.
• You take diabetes medication. The Thai trial and mouse studies point to effects on blood sugar, so anyone taking insulin or tablets that lower blood sugar should ask first.
• You have an autoimmune condition or take immunosuppressant medicines. Tremella polysaccharides act on immune cells in the lab, and nobody has studied them in people with these conditions.
• You take blood thinning medicines or have surgery planned. Human data are lacking, so let your surgical team or pharmacist know about any supplement you take.
• You react to other mushrooms, in which case avoid tremella.
• It is for a child. Tremella supplements have not been studied in under 18s.

Stop taking it and seek advice if you get a rash, swelling or ongoing stomach upset. Food supplements should not replace a varied diet or any treatment you have been prescribed.

In the UK, tremella supplements are sold as food supplements, which are regulated as food rather than medicines. That has two practical results.

First, claims are tightly limited. No health claim has been authorised on the GB register for tremella or for any mushroom. A brand selling a tremella supplement cannot legally say it hydrates skin, reduces wrinkles or lowers blood sugar. Where you see skin wording on a tremella product, it should be attached to an added vitamin or mineral with an authorised claim, such as vitamin C, which contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, or zinc, which contributes to the maintenance of normal skin, hair and nails. If a label promises results from the mushroom itself, treat that as a red flag.

Second, novel food rules apply. Tremella fruiting bodies were eaten in Europe before May 1997, mostly through East Asian grocers, so they are generally treated as a traditional food. Mycelium based tremella powders are a different matter and may need separate authorisation.

The NHS does not publish guidance on tremella. Its general advice on supplements applies: most people can get the nutrients they need from a varied diet, vitamin D is worth considering in autumn and winter, and anyone pregnant should talk to their midwife or GP before adding supplements.

In the UK you can buy dried snow fungus in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese supermarkets and online grocers, usually labelled white fungus or snow fungus. Tremella powders and capsules are sold in health food shops and online, and tremella extract appears on the ingredient lists of many serums and moisturisers under names such as Tremella fuciformis polysaccharide or sporocarp extract.

Tremella appears in two of our products.

GlowShroooms are built around it. Each pack has 60 mixed berry gummies made with a 200:1 tremella extract, plus vitamin C (12 mg) and zinc (1.5 mg). They are vegan-friendly, contain no major allergens, and the suggested amount is two gummies a day, at any time that suits you. The vitamin C and zinc are there for a reason you can state plainly: vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, and zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal skin, hair and nails. The tremella is there because of its long place in beauty traditions. Its effects in people are still unproven.

StarShroooms include tremella as a polysaccharide powder, alongside Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Chaga, Maitake and Panax Ginseng. They are blackcurrant flavoured, vegan and caffeine free. Both packs cost £24.99 for 60 gummies, and you can compare them with our other options in the mushroom gummies collection.

The studies on this page tested tremella on its own, in different forms and amounts. None of them tested our gummies. For the full list of studies behind every ingredient we use, see our research page, or read the guides to Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Chaga, Maitake and Panax Ginseng.