Why are the prices of Cordyceps so different?

Cordyceps sinensis only grows in plateau areas with an altitude of 3000 meters to 5000 meters. Due to the harsh requirements on the growth environment, the current artificial cultivation technology is not mature and cannot be popularized. Zhang Deli, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Cordyceps sinensis of Chongqing Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that the market is full of wild Cordyceps sinensis, so the resources are very limited. Zhang Deli analyzed that with global warming, the living environment of Cordyceps sinensis may also be threatened. In addition, overgrazing and over-excavation are the reasons for the scarce yield of Cordyceps sinensis. So now the government has also begun to protect the natural production areas of Cordyceps sinensis, and it is not allowed to dig at will.

"Every year, people are injured or even killed by digging cordyceps." Li Chen, who has lived in Tibet for many years, told the Health Times that digging Cordyceps is a big problem because Cordyceps grows in high altitude areas. She often heard that local farmers fell from the mountains to dig cordyceps, and others encountered avalanches to dig high-quality cordyceps in the snow-capped mountains. It was not until the snow melted the next year that the body was found.

Li Chen said that digging Cordyceps was particularly tiring, because Cordyceps only showed its seedlings, and it was very hard for the whole person to crawl on the ground and find it bit by bit. Lucky people can dig a dozen or twenty roots a day, but unlucky people may only have a few or even none. At present, Cordyceps is expensive, and many farmers who dig Cordyceps for a living will compete with each other, and occasionally there will be bloodshed.

Exaggerated efficacy, business speculation

Compared with the scarcity of resources and the difficulty of mining, the high price of Cordyceps sinensis is largely due to its being called "Cao Xian".

Professor Chang of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine said that Cordyceps sinensis is a tonic. Chinese medicine believes that it can nourish kidney and moisten lung, stop bleeding and resolve phlegm. Can be used for treating impotence, soreness of waist and knees caused by kidney deficiency, chronic cough and asthma caused by deficiency of both lung and kidney, tuberculosis, fatigue cough and hemoptysis caused by deficiency of lung yin.

However, due to its mild efficacy, it is essentially different from the "aphrodisiac" of Cordyceps touted by some dealers.

Moreover, "Cordyceps sinensis can only be supplemented, and don't expect to have an immediate effect after eating it." Professor Chang believes that Cordyceps sinensis, whether used as a treatment or health care, needs long-term consumption to have an effect, and it is difficult to say that it has an effect in a short time, so it must be within the above adaptation range. Not everyone can eat Cordyceps sinensis for health care.

"To be honest, the duck soup stewed with Cordyceps sinensis is quite delicious, but I have eaten it for a year and I have not obviously felt much effect." Li Chen believes that "the medicinal value of Cordyceps sinensis is far from its market price." She recalled that in the early 1990s, a pair of military liberation shoes could be exchanged with local farmers for 10 ~ 20 cordyceps (about 5g), and one kilogram of cordyceps was about 1 10,000 yuan. Buying Cordyceps sinensis in Tibet this year will cost at least 40,000 to 60,000 yuan per kilogram. And when such Cordyceps arrives in Beijing, the price will rise tenfold.

Gift-giving, low price.

Resources are getting less and less, and manual excavation is very difficult. Cordyceps is a fairy grass ... which increases the weight of Cordyceps as a gift.

A box of two or three kilograms of Cordyceps gift box, the weight of Cordyceps is generally less than100g, and the rest is all in this box. In Beijing Tongrentang Hongmiao Beili Store, the sales staff carefully took out a beautiful wooden Cordyceps gift box from the counter. "The compartment inside can be turned upside down and used as a cosmetic case."

Known as "Cao Xian", Cordyceps sinensis is not only a precious Chinese medicine, but also an important gift in interpersonal communication.

In the investigation, the reporter found that people who buy Cordyceps gift boxes generally think that giving people with Cordyceps is quite high-grade, and an inconspicuous gift box will cost 10,000 yuan, which is a noble position that other health care products do not have. Since it is a gift, packaging is very important, so the packaging grade of Cordyceps is getting higher and higher, and the price is naturally high.

Among the people who bring Cordyceps as gifts, some people do buy them for relatives and friends who are seriously ill, including many patients with advanced cancer. Many people say that buying Cordyceps is to give some psychological comfort to their relatives and friends. "You see, I bought him the most expensive tonic, which shows that I really tried my best."

But more people who buy Cordyceps as a gift want this high price and fashion just like buying high-end tobacco and alcohol.

In Beijing, many tobacco hotels have signs of "Cordyceps recycling", and the price of recycled Cordyceps is far lower than the selling price. Two one-gram Cordyceps is the best, and the recycling price per gram is around 80 yuan, while the recycling price of inferior Cordyceps is 60~70 yuan. The minimum 20 yuan is one gram. Some recycling shops calculate according to the quantity of Cordyceps, and the recycling price is generally 20 ~ 1 from 80 yuan.

Anyone who recycles Cordyceps knows something about identification. Generally, the collected Cordyceps will be divided into two batches. The Cordyceps with good color will be sent to the medicinal market in Bozhou, Anhui Province for sale, and most of the cordyceps with color difference will be sold to pharmaceutical factories.

According to the shopkeeper who recycled Cordyceps, most of the people selling Cordyceps are middle-aged and elderly people. "Many of them are gifts, and some people are reluctant to eat them." People often buy Cordyceps sinensis not because of its health care function, but because it is expensive.

But the business of Cordyceps recycling is not very stable. "Sometimes I can't get a pound a month, and sometimes I can get a pound at most a day."

The consumption mentality behind the high price of Cordyceps sinensis is: not seeking right, but seeking expensive. As for whether Cordyceps sinensis really has such a good health care function, consumers would rather believe it than pursue it.

Eat mushrooms as "Cordyceps"

Professor Chang suggested that if you can't afford to eat Cordyceps sinensis, it is better to eat mushrooms, because Cordyceps sinensis is also a fungus, which is very similar to mushrooms in nutrition and rich in amino acids, polysaccharides, vitamins and trace elements.

In addition, healthy people don't need to eat Cordyceps sinensis. One is expensive, and the other is that the tonic effect is not obvious. It's better to have three meals a day. Unless you are physically weak and meet the corresponding "certificate" of Cordyceps sinensis, you can consider eating Cordyceps sinensis for nourishment.

Experts teach you to pick cordyceps sinensis

The identification method introduced by Zhang Xian from the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Beijing Institute for Drug Control is water test: if Cordyceps sinensis is thrown into a water cup, it may fade, or the insect body and fungus base will degum. The genuine fungus seat is slightly thinner at the lower part and slightly larger at the upper part.

Ms. Zhang, who has many years' experience in buying Cordyceps, recommends smelling incense. Authentic products will smell like seafood after drying in the shade, and there are two red spots on the head of the worm.