Growing Cordyceps Sinensis

When you look at the various qualities of different strains and producers of Cordyceps, you wonder why this is so, considering that no matter where it is grown a tomato is still a tomato it boggles the mind when you realize that even the same strain (CS4) of Cordyceps from different growers is entirely different when it comes to the active ingredients. Before answering this question you have to realize that there are two different methods used when cultivating the Cordyceps.

The Culture Methods and Subtrates of Cordyceps Sinensis

The primary method in China is the Liquid culture or Fermentation method. This method introduces an organism into a tank of sterilized liquid medium that has been specially formulated to provide the necessary nutritional components for the rapid growth of the mycelium. Once the mycelium has grown it’s strained out of the liquid broth dried and harvested. After the mycelium has been harvested it can be used as it is or further processed.

The major draw back to this method is that the extra-cellular compounds which the fungus exudes during the growth cycle are discarded with the broth. This is a major loss of bioactive compounds since many of the active ingredients are extra-cellular in nature to begin with. These compounds are only found in the mycelium in small concentrations.

The Japanese and American growers tend to follow the solid substrate method rather then the liquid or fermentation method. When this method is utilized the mycelium is grown in either plastic bags or glass jars which are full of sterilized medium which is usually some type of cereal grain. The type of grain used for this purpose is usually rice, wheat or rye, although there have been other types of grains used.

The mycelium, along with the residual grain, is harvested after a period of growth. While this method has the benefits of requiring a low capital investment as well as being easily mastered, there is a down side to this method which is that the grain content is usually greater than the mycelium content. In many of the cases that were tested the solid substrate grown mycelium was 80% greater residual grain. There is an upside to this method however, along with the substrate and mycelium the extra cellular compounds are harvested as well.

Cordyceps Sinensis Substrate:

Many of the Chinese growers prefer a substrate of a liquid media which is based upon silkworm residue that has added carbohydrates and minerals. This choice is a good one since dried silkworm bodies are the result of an existing industry and are of little other use. Since this is the case acquiring the dried silkworm bodies is inexpensive and readily available.

This resource isn’t one that fits into the United States FDA requirements for mycelial products to be produced on a normally consumed human food source. Another issue is that this resource is not one that is readily available as a raw material source to most of the Cordyceps cultivators of the world. This is why many of the Japanese and American growers use rice as a substrate.

However, rice is not suitable if the target medicinal compounds are considered in Cordyceps production. The full rand of secondary metabolites are not expressed by the fungus from rice grown Cordyceps, and they have tested inferior in the analysis of active ingredients. The figures for these tests show that only about 40% of the rice is converted into mycelial mass. What this means for the bottom line is that when the Cordyceps are grown on rice and then dried and powdered the resulting product is actually about 60-75% rice flour.