Cordyceps Militaris Cultivation: The Hunt for High-Yielding Strains

Cordyceps Militaris Cultivation: The Hunt for High-Yielding Strains

It is worth going half-way across the world for a strain that will lead to the best results for cordyceps militaris cultivation, so that is what I did

I took a trip to Shanghai, China in search of a great cordyceps militaris strain that would lead to huge yields. Some may be surprised by such a journey, but those people probably do not understand the amazing potential that cordyceps militaris has.   Overall, the goal was to find a strong strain so we can continue the cordyceps militaris cultivation in the northeast. Even though this strain does grow in the northeast, it is pretty uncommon to find it.

Check out the video of my trip to Shanghai, where I sought high-yielding strains for top-notch cordyceps militaris cultivation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ-XAq78VwE Ultimately, our mission was complete pretty early on in the trip. We found the cordyceps militaris we were looking for. At first, we found them as dried options in a small traditional Chinese medicine shop. There were both wild-harvested options and cultivated options. We ended up getting a large bag of the cultivated cordyceps. We also found fresh produce markets as we continued walking around the city. We stopped in and found a lot of fresh cordyceps. We spent about $2 U.S. for nearly three ounces of fresh cordyceps. Overall we collected multiple strains of fresh cordyceps, in addition to the dried ones we found early on in the trip. The next step was getting them home so I could clone them and begin my own round of cordyceps militaris cultivation.

There are benefits to cordyceps militaris cultivation, according to scientific research

Here is a look at a few scientific studies that have shown benefits of cordyceps militaris. The first study is entitled “Anti-inflammatory and related pharmacological activities of cultured mycelia and fruiting bodies of Cordyceps militaris, and conducted by So-Young Won and Eun-Hee Park.This study looked at both the fruited body extract (FBE) of the mushroom and the cultured mycelium extract (CME).  You can check out the study directly if you’d like. However, here is a quote on the overall conclusions derived from the study: “In brief, we demonstrate that Cordyceps militaris possesses anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities, and related antioxidant, anti-angiogenic, and NO production-inhibitory activities.” The next study to consider is entitled “Constituents isolated from Cordyceps militaris suppress enhanced inflammatory mediator's production and human cancer cell proliferation”. According to its abstract, the point of this study was to, “isolate the pure compounds from the extracts of Cordyceps militaris obtained through solid-state cultivation process, and evaluate their anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.” The results were favorable for the researchers. Here is what they concluded: “The present study provides scientific supporting information for the ethnopharmacological use of Cordyceps militaris as an anti-inflammatory and anticancer agent.” One of my favorite studies involving cordyceps is entitled “Pharmacological and therapeutic potential of Cordyceps with special reference to Cordycepin”. Here is one of the interesting quotes from this study:

“Cordyceps has a long history of use as a lung and kidney tonic, and for the treatment of chronic bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis and other diseases of the respiratory system. The cardiovascular effects of Cordyceps are being noticed more frequently by researchers as it works through variety of possible ways either by lowering high blood pressure via direct dilatory effects or mediated through M-cholinergic receptors resulting in improvement in the coronary and cerebral blood circulation (Zhu et al. 1998b).”

And here is another quote that speaks to the diverse effects of cordyceps. “Cordyceps and its product have remarkable clinical health effects including action on hepatic, renal, cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, sexual, immunological systems, besides having anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activities (Zhou et al. 2008; Wang et al. 2011; Lee et al. 2011a, b; Zhang et al. 2012; Patel and Goyal 2012; Yue et al. 2012).” Finally, here’s a look at the conclusion of this paper, which gives insight on the future of cordyceps usage.

“The usage of natural/herbal medicines over the synthetic ones has seen an upward trend in the recent past. Cordyceps being an ancient medicinal mushroom used as a crude drug for the welfare of mankind in old civilization is now a matter of great concern because of its unexplored potentials obtained by various culture techniques and being an excellent source of bioactive metabolites with more than 21 clinically approved benefits on human health including anti-diabetic, anti-tumor, anti-oxidative, immunomodulatory, sexual potentiator and anti-ageing effects (Das et al. 2010b). Cordycepin alone has been widely explored for its anti-cancer/anti-oxidant activities, thus, holding a strong pharmacological and therapeutic potential to cure many dreadful diseases in future.”

Are you interested in cordyceps militaris cultivation? You can download our free guide

There are some tips for you if you are also interested in cordyceps militaris cultivation like I am. You can find these tips in my newly-released guide for growing cordyceps militaris. The handbook is free and available for immediate download on the website.
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