Cordyceps militaris - Cordyceps

Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris) is a medicinal fungus grown axenically on a sterile rice substrate rather than on its traditional insect host, prized for its content of cordycepin and other bioactive compounds.¹

Inputs

• Substrate: rice (fresh or aged), 40 g dry material per 500 mL culture bottle at 60% water content, sterilized at 121°C for 60 minutes.¹
• Spawn: 8-10% (w/w) grain spawn inoculated onto the cooled substrate surface.¹
• Spawn run: dark, 18-22°C, until white mycelium fully covers the substrate.¹
• Fruiting initiation: 25±1°C, diffuse light at 800-1,000 lux on a 12-hour light/dark cycle, 70-80% relative humidity.¹
• Fruiting: once primordia form, holes are punched in the bottle covering and humidity raised to 85-95% at 18-22°C with diffuse light, until fruiting bodies swell and harvest-ready asci appear.¹

Outputs

• Human food: fruiting bodies tested safe for food use, rich in protein.¹
• Medicinal use: fruiting bodies contain cordycepin, polysaccharides, polyphenols, glycoproteins, superoxide dismutase, and ergosterol.¹

Type

• Edible fungi

Footnotes

1. Upcycling Chitin Waste and Aged Rice into Fungi Protein Through Fermentation with Cordyceps militaris | Journal of Fungi, 2025 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸