Rajkot: For long they have tickled your taste buds while adding nutritional value to Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Thai cuisines. But now a mushroom species, touted to be one of the costliest in the world, has also turned out to be of medicinal value.
Scientists at Kutch-based Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE) have successfully cultivated – ‘cordyceps militaris’ – a mushroom species that traditionally found its use in Chinese and Tibetan herbal medicines. The scientists grew the mushrooms in 35 jars in a controlled environment in a laboratory within 90 days giving 350 grams yield. The mushroom is valued at Rs 1.50 lakh a kg.