Authentic Cordyceps (O. sinensis), the caterpillar fungus, the one everyone sees in pictures (the dead caterpillar with the blade-like fruiting body growing from it) is actually the most expensive mushroom in the world; upwards of $40,000/Kg. With such a price tag there is absolutely no way authentic cordyceps (O. sinensis) could be used in an affordable supplement product.
Cultivation of authentic fruiting bodies has previously been impossible and only recently has China figured out how to cultivate Cordyceps sinensis to produce a fruiting body. That being said, the price is still much too high for commercial supplements, leaving only mycelium available for commercial products.
Anything from China is typically a product called Cs-4 which is a 100% pure mycelium product made via liquid fermentation.
Anything produced in the U.S. is mycelium on grain, which ends up being very high in starch due to the nature of Cordyceps mycelium which grows very slowly leaving a high amount of residual grain in the final product.
At Real Mushrooms, we take a different approach. We use Cordyceps militaris because fruiting bodies can be cultivated. This allows us to use 100% organically certified fruiting bodies for our Cordyceps-M extract powder. We do not deviate from our ethos of offering 100% fruiting body products with high beta-glucan levels and next to no starch.
If you’d like to learn more about how Cordyceps relates to supplements, read: Cordyceps and Supplements: Past and Present.