In the video below, William Padilla-Brown (founder of MycoSymbiotics) walks through the cultivation process of Cordyceps militaris, a mushroom known for its many medicinal properties. He covers proper technique for jar cultivation using a pressure cooker, in addition to cultivation with a rice cooker or Instant Pot.

For both jar and bin cultivation, you will need to start by making a nutrient broth. Nutrient broth is used to hydrate your brown rice, or "matrix" for the mushroom mycelium to grow on. Cordyceps naturally grow on insect larva, so your brown rice and broth substrate will be a nutrient-rich substitute.

Ingredients for nutrient broth:

1 gallon coconut water

10 grams tapioca starch

5 grams magnesium sulfate

10 grams multivitamins (crushed)

19 grams nutritional yeast or soy peptone

11 grams kelp powder

3.5 grams gypsum

Combine dry ingredients: nutritional yeast or soy peptone, tapioca starch, magnesium sulfate, kelp powder, crushed multivitamins, and gypsum, in a mixing bowl. Add coconut water and mix thoroughly. Extra broth can be stored in the fridge for up to one week.

Prepare jar lids for inoculation by drilling a single hole in each lid keeping in mind the appropriate size hole for your culture syringe. Create a filter by pulling a small amount of Poly-fil through the hole.

Combine 46 milliliters of nutrient broth with 28 grams of brown rice for each jar and add jars into your pressure cooker. Make sure your pressure cooker is capable of reaching 10 PSI (pounds per square inch) for 45 minutes to an hour and a half to ensure proper sterilization.

Remove your sterilized jars from the pressure cooker and allow to cool to room temperature. Introduce 1-2 milliliters of liquid culture to each jar through the Poly-fil using a circular rotation to allow for an even distribution of the culture. Sterilize your needle with a flame or isopropyl between each addition of liquid culture.

Combine 855 grams of rice with 1 liter of nutrient broth to the Instant Pot insert. Proper measurement of both is vital for appropriate saturation and to limit bacterial growth. Place insert into Instant Pot and run it on the rice setting.

Allow rice and nutrient broth mixture to cool to room temperature before introducing your liquid culture. Sterilize your mixing spoon and allow it to dry before use. You will want to do this process in as clean a space as possible. For best results, use a flow hood or glove box. Combine 120-300 milliliters of liquid culture to substrate mixture and mix thoroughly. Layer a half inch of mixture along the bottom of your bin, keeping in mind that you want to maximize space for your mushrooms to fruit. At this point, you want very little air flow into your bin. Lid clips should be enough to keep your bin sealed well with just enough air flow, but you may want to use parafilm around the lid. If your bin does have a rubber or air-tight seal, consider adding filter patches.

Substrate incubation should take place in the dark over 3 to 6 days at 65 degrees F. Harvest should take place when the fruit bodies are mature. These are located at the very tops of the elongated “fingers,” and appear as clusters of small bumps.  

Cordyceps can be stored in ethanol or vinegar for extracts and preservation, or dehydrated for powder in teas, food, or extracts.

Calcarisporium cordycipiticola is a common contaminant of cordyceps and appears as a white fuzz growing on top of your cordyceps mycelium as the substrate colonizes. It is a parasitic fungus that lives inside the cordyceps and appears when inoculation temperatures rise above 68- or 69-degrees F. Mites can be a problem if you are wild foraging for your cordyceps spores.

William Padilla-Brown can be found on Instagram (@MycoSymbiote) or YouTube (Apex Grower) or at his website MycoSymbiotics. Support for his work can be made through Patreon.com; his handle there is 'Permaculture Papi.' You can purchase his Cordyceps Handbook here.