Cordyceps Militaris

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This is the what and why of cordyceps! At the end I'll include sources on where you can purchase a spore culture and inexpensive growing equipment to enable you to grow the world's most expensive herbal medicine yourself at a manageable price!

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This species was made popular in the US in 1993, when China's women's Olympic running team broke three world records by huge margins. People were highly suspicious and assumed they were using performance enhancing drugs. When they tested negative, the coach released he'd been giving his runners Cordyceps mushrooms on a daily basis. They are known to boost respiratory function by dilating the bronchi allowing for higher oxygen transport, and dilate the blood vessels as well. Cordyceps are also a powerful anti inflammatory and they promote health in just about every system of the body.

Cordyceps are Confirmed Body Snatchers of Insects

2015-08-19_Ophiocordyceps_formicarum_(Kobayasi)_G.H._Sung,_J.M._Sung,_Hywel-Jones_&_Spatafora_591950.jpg

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Little known fact: this natural supplement located at most health foods stores actually has the ability to possess the minds and bodies of insects turning them into zombi seed pods that plant themselves! Sorry about the spider!

Cordyceps are a Powerful Workout Supplement With Healthy Side Effects

People who take this mushroom say it also helps with motivation and their ability to power through a workout, and there's plenty of research to back it up. When given to mice before swimming, they managed to consistently swim about 5 minutes longer than the control group. Cordyceps are also an adaptogen that helps your body cope with stress and works to normalize your biorhythm. It has been used for the elderly to get back in shape and gives a nice natural energy boost. This fungus is a natural cancer preventer and the effects on mood of the mushroom can be cumulative reaching full effect after three months of use. Joe Rogan is a popular advocate for Cordyceps as a workout supplement and a general, all around health and wellness aid.

How to Grow Them Yourself!

Required Materials All Available on Amazon.com

Cordyceps Spore Culture 60$50-60 grams Organic Brown Rice 15$The Mushroom Ecosphere from Midwestgrowkits.com (not completely necessary but will make the process go a lot smoother for all future grows) 230$ Quart Glass Fruiting Jar Cleaned and Disinfected With Hot Water $15 10-20 grams Silk Worm Pupae50-60 milliliters Distilled Water (to mix with Brown Rice and Pupae)Full Spectrum Fluorescent Lamp 30$

Don't be intimidated by the instructions! Plenty of people have fruited their own specimens using their own experimental methods, this is just one of many!

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Instructions
The culture must be kept between 67 and 77 degrees. 77 degrees is the optimum temperature for fruiting, but the temperature shouldn't go beyond that number. They will fruit under continuous light and prefer moisture and oxygen levels similar to sea level. If you live at a high elevation you could consider purchasing an oxygen concentrator(expensive) along with an oxygen saturation monitor to fit in the ecosphere which includes a humidifier system to dial it in to the precise level needed which you would have to gauge based on the air pressure at sea level and how dense that air would be with oxygen(ask me if you need help). You could also just give it a whirl and see if it works without. This setup also comes with a timed lighting system which is incredibly useful. While preparing make sure the area is cleaned, wear gloves. The mold is fragile and can be killed by even a small amount of disinfectant. Use boiling water to disinfect anything that will touch the mold or anything that will touch anything that will touch the mold. Combine ingredients in small crock-pot and disinfect at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. You might need to keep the substrate in another container inside the crock-pot, but it must reach that temperature for 20 minutes. Take your jar, and drill a hole in the lid, stuff the hole with poly-fill to allow air to pass into the jar but also to filter contaminants(you can buy a bag of fresh poly-fill for 4$ on Amazon, make sure it stays clean and the bag is closed until you use it.) Remove lid and pour substrate into disinfected jar. Seal. Allow the temperature of the substrate to cool to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Open jar and add 25-30 milliliters of spore culture to substrate. Seal(except for poly-filled hole) and place in environment @ 77 degrees under continuous lighting. It takes about 60 days for fruiting bodies to appear.

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General benefits of Cordyceps militaris

Powerful adaptogen eases stress and works as a natural antidepressant
Boosts vitality and youthfulness
Increases production of ATP energizing your body on the cellular level
Dilates blood vessels in body and bronchi in lungs for increased oxygen transport, which is fully utilized by the increased production of ATP
Eases symptoms of asthma and bronchitis
Boosts cognitive function
Great meditation aid
A pharmaceutically effective anti viral medicine
Cordyceps have a spectrum of useful compounds that are being extensively studied including Cordycepin, Adenosine, and Cordycepic acid which seem to work together to produce a compounding effect
Known for its ability to regenerate the mind and body at a fundamental level
Contains polysaccharides that inhibit multiple forms of cancer including leukemia
Powerful Immune Booster
Reduces bad cholesterol

Cordyceps are one of the Most Highly Revered Natural Medicines on the Planet

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These are just some of the many health benefits of Cordyceps, and now you can grow them yourself instead of paying hundreds of dollars per ounce. Corcyceps have been used for millenia and perhaps they are, along with some other magical fungal forms, part of the reason for the legendary life spans experienced in China. They only became popular in the US recently and only recently have people figured out how to cultivate them indoors. The most potent specimens are the Cordyceps sinensis with the caterpillar still attached! Though militaris has the same spectrum of medicinal compounds at varying potency. There are plenty of amateurs out there fruiting their own Cordyceps militaris so don't be afraid of the process, get out there and cultivate the world's most expensive natural supplement yourself!

Sources

https://www.etsy.com/listing/609426335/cordyceps-militaris-liquid-culture?ref=pla_similar_listing_top-3

https://www.amazon.com/Basswood-Farms-Cordyceps-Liquid-Culture/dp/B07CRKGT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528923833&sr=8-1&keywords=cordyceps+liquid+culture

https://www.amazon.com/Chubby-Dried-Silkworm-Reptiles-Terrapin/dp/B01N7P6HA9/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528924023&sr=8-1&keywords=silkworm+pupae&dpID=51VCkbQroKL&preST=SX300_QL70&dpSrc=srch

http://www.midwestgrowkits.com/The-Mushroom-Ecosphere

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3741564/

I hope you now feel fully enabled to grow your own Cordyceps! Please upvote if you enjoyed the content and let me know if you have any questions! For other fungal oddities check out my feed @fractalobserver and stay tuned for the next instructional on Reishi "the immortality mushroom" - another magical fungi form! Thank you for reading and a big thanks to @c-squared, @curie, and @arcange for welcoming me into the Steemit community!