Since amanita powder is less stable the whole mushrooms, we grind and vacuum pack our powder at the time of sale from quality amanita dried mushroom caps. We don't purchase Amanita powder from other sellers because of its lower quality, and its identity can't be visually verified. Many sellers grind up amanita stems, which are less potent than the caps.
 
Amanita pantherina powder is from locally harvested Amanita pantheroid whole mushroom caps. These mushrooms are dried at 100F and then vacuum packed for storage at 0F.  We have a limited quantity of Amanita pantheroid and the powder is a value added product that we offer for the same price as caps, not a higher cost.
 
Remember, store your dried powder or whole dried mushrooms in a sealed bag in the freezer in darkness for stability and slow, solid-state decarboxylation over time. If they are vacuum packed or an oxygen absorber packet is included, the solid-state decarboxylation is very efficient. Your amanita will actually increase in potency over time. We are currently testing if this also true for simply sealed bags of amanita with no oxygen absorber packet or vacuum packing. Oxygen, light, and moisture degrade muscimol over time.
 
Most mushrooms bioaccumulate heavy metals. Extracting your mushrooms in acidified water will extract more heavy metals than using pH neutral water. Ibotenic acid and muscimol are both very water soluble and easily extracted into water. Steeping powdered amanita 5-10 min in 200F water is enough. Some stirring is helpful. Steeping whole mushrooms or mushroom pieces yields less actives than steeping powder.
 
While it is possible to make a concentrated paste extract, evaporating off the water with heat will degrade a lot of or even almost all of the muscimol. Muscimol is more stable than Ibotenic acid, but muscimol is still a reactive, unstable compound. It is possible the pastes will be active, but it will cost you a lot of muscimol producing the concentrated paste or powder. Important note, muscarine, a toxin present in Amanita muscaria and its close relatives in small amounts, is very thermally stable. It will not degrade during a concentrating step. Muscimol will degrade. So, you are increasing the ratio of muscarine to muscimol in the final product. A higher dose of muscarine from the same dose of muscimol in the concentrate increases the chance of negative side effects from muscarine. Muscarine is present in trace amounts in Amanita, 0.02% compared to up to 1% in toxic Inocybe species.