A man has left social media users shocked after sharing his bizarre snack – ‘zombie mushrooms' that he claims to have grown out of his own blood samples.

Jacob Hood was inspired to make the unusual fungus after watching The Last Of Us, the popular TV show where humans are infected by cordyceps, which is a type of fungi that really exists.

However, in real life, it attacks ants and spiders, not humans, and is often referred to as “zombie ant fungus".

After developing his own special strain of the mushroom, the 21-year-old shared his creation to TikTok, (@southernspore ), where it has racked up has received 2.7 million views.

“I had struggled to grow cordyceps in the past but now that I had learned a lot more since then, I figured it was a great excuse to retry,” Jacob, a content creator from the US, told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk

“Growing cordyceps off of dead tissue is extremely different from trying to infect somebody with it.

“What I grew is cordyceps militaris, a commercially-grown mushroom.

“Breathing in the spores isn’t going to turn you into a zombie.”

In the video shared to social media, Jacob talks to the camera as he explains the growing process.

“The black stuff at the bottom is the blood,” he says.

“I’m going to try and get it [the fungi] out and then cut it in half.”

The fungus, which was grown in a jar, can be seen with a black bottom, and a yellow top, and mushrooms growing out of the top.

Jacob then pulls the fungi and finds a piece of skin from his hand.

He then reveals the very gross, yellow tinge, covering most of the creation.

The 21-year-old decides to try the mushroom, describing it as sweet and hard.

Jacob added: “I made my page to share my love for mycology [the study of fungi].

“I’m 100% self-taught and definitely not an expert, so making these videos and learning from more experienced people who comment on them has really helped me out.

“I feel mycology is a very understudied field.

“So I hope that by making videos, I can get more people to grow and study mushrooms, further advancing our understanding of these under-appreciated organisms.”

The video has so far gathered 255,900 likes, as well as 21,600 comments from baffled users.

Taylor said: “Bro trynna speedrun the last of us.” [sic]

Someone else commented: “So cordyceps could actually have a small chance of taking over the world.”

Another follower added: “Hey man, I just watched the last of us, don't do this to me.” [sic]

“We have two games and a tv show about why this is a BAD IDEA,” wrote Yeena.

“The last of us is being more and more real,” said Collen. [sic]

“AND YOU PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH???” added one user.

“What could possibly go wrong!!!” wrote Cam.

ENDS