First of all, we should know that the real Cordyceps sinensis is only wild at present. See the second half of this article for a more detailed explanation.
Cordyceps sinensis looks like a silkworm with a stem on its head. The part like "grass stem" is called "daughter seat", and the part like "silkworm" is called "bacterial larva complex" In order to make most readers understand the content of this article more intuitively, the name of "daughter" is replaced by "grass head" and the name of "fungus larva complex" is replaced by "insect body".
1. "Grass Head"
The color of dead branches is dark brown or brown, the grass heads are mostly black and long, and the section is white. When the grass head is wet, it is soft and has a fibrous section. When the "grass head" is dry, the texture is crisp and easy to break, and the section has no fiber feeling. The stalk of "grass head" is closely connected with the head of "insect body". Cordyceps sinensis generally has "grass head", and less than 3% has two or three branches. Grass head is thick at the bottom and thin at the end. If the "grass head" is long, the end will expand and become larger, showing a cylindrical shape. The length of "grass head" varies from 0. 1 cm to 12 cm, among which Cordyceps sinensis with the length of "grass head" ranging from 0. 1 cm to 1 cm and 8 cm to 12 cm are rare, accounting for less than 6% in total. When chewing, it feels like eating a light mushroom, and the taste of "grass head" is generally stronger than that of "insect body".
2. "Worm"
Color, some are golden yellow, some are dark yellow, some are dark yellow and black, and the cross section is milky white without fiber. When a worm is wet, its texture is elastic. When dry, the texture is tough. The length of "worm body" varies from 1.6 cm to 6.5 cm, among which Cordyceps sinensis with 1.6 cm to 1.9 cm and 5.6 cm to 6.5 cm are rare, accounting for less than 5% in total. There are dense circular patterns on the surface of the "insect body", and there are 8 pairs of feet under the body, and the 4 pairs of feet in the middle are much larger and more eye-catching. The "worm" is straight or slightly curved. In order to deepen your impression, you can go to the "Cordyceps Family" in the free resource "Picture Appreciation Area" of Lirong Cordyceps Net to see the pictures of Cordyceps sinensis.
3. The moist Cordyceps sinensis is sealed and opened, and smells like straw mushrooms and mushrooms. When dry, it smells tasteless or has a faint scent of straw mushrooms and mushrooms.
There are many kinds of Cordyceps sinensis, including Cordyceps sinensis, Cordyceps sinensis, Cordyceps Sinkiang, Cordyceps Cladosporium, Cordyceps mycelium, Cordyceps needle and so on. At present, there are more than 400 species of generalized Cordyceps sinensis reported. Authoritative human medical research has found that Cordyceps sinensis is the best known Cordyceps sinensis beneficial to human health in the world. According to clinical and pharmacological tests, some Cordyceps sinensis have basically no beneficial effect on human health, so the purchase price per kilogram of its producing area ranges from tens of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. Some lawless elements buy Cordyceps sinensis at a price of tens of yuan per kilogram, the main purpose of which is to dope and pretend to be Cordyceps sinensis.
Criminals take advantage of the lack of common sense of most people about Cordyceps sinensis, adulterate it, and make profits by confusing the fake with the real. At present, most of them use other kinds of Cordyceps sinensis as Cordyceps sinensis. In particular:
1. Adulterated Cordyceps sinensis is sold in Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Anhui and other places. For the identification of Cordyceps sinensis, please refer to "Cordyceps sinensis, one of the common confusions of Cordyceps sinensis" in Li Rong's Cordyceps sinensis knowledge. For identification of Cordyceps Sinkiang, please refer to "Cordyceps Sinkiang, Common Confused Products of Cordyceps Sinkiang" in Li Rong's Cordyceps Sinkiang Free Resource "Cordyceps Knowledge".
2. Add water to flour, corn flour, gypsum and other materials, shape them with a special fake mold, and then color and dry them to sell them as Cordyceps sinensis.
3. Cordyceps mycelium obtained by artificial fermentation and Cordyceps mycelium obtained by artificial fermentation are made into nutritional supplements, pretending to be cordyceps nutritional supplements. In fact, although some pharmacological components are similar, they are not the same drug.
4. True Cordyceps sinensis and alum are adulterated. Because Cordyceps sinensis is soaked in alum, the surface of Cordyceps sinensis is milky white. Alum, the scientific name of potassium aluminum sulfate, is generally used as a food improver and leavening agent, and is often used as an additive for fried dough sticks, vermicelli, rice noodles and other foods, which plays a role in solidification and leavening. However, alum contains a lot of aluminum ions harmful to human body. If eaten for a long time, it will lead to osteoporosis, small cell hypopigmentation's anemia, brain neurotoxicity, mental retardation in children, premature aging and Alzheimer's Harmo's disease. Experts pointed out that eating alum regularly is undoubtedly suicide, and the maximum intake per kilogram per day should not exceed 0.07 mg.
Cordyceps sinensis is aggravated by adding alum. At present, this phenomenon can also be seen in some professional markets of Chinese herbal medicines. If you eat this cordyceps sinensis, it will be harmful to your health. Because alum has penetrated into Cordyceps sinensis, it is difficult to completely or mostly dispose of alum.
At present, there is no good rescue method for Cordyceps sinensis soaked in alum. According to a senior colleague of our company, some components of Cordyceps sinensis will be reduced after removing some vanadium. This method is to soak the vanadium-containing Cordyceps sinensis in warm water for two minutes, then gently brush the surface of each Cordyceps sinensis with a new toothbrush and rinse it with tap water for three times.
1 is the most difficult for ordinary people to identify the above four kinds. Under the condition of careful observation of its shape, color and smell, all other adulteration and counterfeiting behaviors are easy to identify.
Wild Cordyceps sinensis can be divided into Qinghai grass (meaning produced in Qinghai province), Tibetan grass (meaning produced in Xizang Autonomous Region), Sichuan grass (meaning produced in Sichuan province), Yunnan grass, Gansu grass, furnace grass and shrub grass. How to distinguish them will be a very complicated and professional thing. It is not enough to impart knowledge only through words and pictures, and it is impossible to cultivate a qualified person in this field. Need different physics textbooks and more professional guidance, 10 days or so.
So, can Cordyceps be planted artificially?
In 2003, according to an interview with Hong-sheng Wang, an associate researcher at the Grassland Research Institute of Qinghai University, who has studied the artificial cultivation techniques of Cordyceps sinensis for many years, there are no artificially cultivated Cordyceps sinensis at present, and all Cordyceps sinensis come from the wild. Qinghai Academy of Animal Husbandry carried out the research on Cordyceps sinensis for the first time on 1979, isolated Cordyceps sinensis fungi for the first time, and completed the whole process of Cordyceps sinensis culture in the laboratory, and applied for the first Cordyceps sinensis patent in China on 1984; 1996 undertook the project "Study on the Ecology and Artificial Cultivation Techniques of Cordyceps sinensis in Qinghai", which broke through the technical difficulties of insect breeding. 1998 A strain of Cordyceps sinensis was artificially cultivated, but unfortunately it was never cultivated again.
Hong-sheng Wang said that the research on artificial Cordyceps sinensis with complete morphology has not been completely successful, mainly because some technical difficulties have not been broken, such as the high mortality rate of artificially cultured insects and the growth conditions of the stroma, and further research is needed. Therefore, artificial cultivation cannot be carried out for the time being, and there is still a certain gap from mass production.
In addition, Cordyceps sinensis grows in the plateau snow-capped meadow environment at an altitude of 3000-5000 meters. At present, it is difficult to simulate this environment in the laboratory. If the environment changes, it will also lead to changes in pharmacological components. At present, some domestic nutrition production enterprises have cultivated and produced Cordyceps sinensis mycelium, which contains many active and effective components similar to Cordyceps sinensis, but it can not completely replace Cordyceps sinensis, and they are not the same drug. Therefore, consumers should pay special attention to distinguish whether the raw material is Cordyceps sinensis or Cordyceps sinensis mycelium when purchasing Cordyceps sinensis nutrition.