What color does the water turn into after Cordyceps sinensis is soaked in water?

Soaking Cordyceps in water is the most common way to take it. Some careful customers will observe the color of the water during the soaking process and asked me some questions. In order to obtain first-hand information and answer everyone's questions more objectively and accurately, I personally tested the process of soaking Cordyceps sinensis in water (using Zaduo Cordyceps sinensis as the test sample) and came to the following conclusions

The Cordyceps was soaked in water for 1 hour and 3 hours respectively and then compared with boiled water. At this time, the Cordyceps sank to the bottom of the water after fully absorbing water and swelling. Its appearance remained intact, and the surface of the insect body was slightly discolored, and the color was slightly lighter than when it was just soaked in water! The water turned a very light yellow, and there was no debris in the water. The water quality was clear and transparent without turbidity.

Through the above conclusions, everyone has a basic understanding of the color of the water soaked with Cordyceps sinensis. I believe that friends’ questions have been answered. However, I need to point out that the color of the water soaked with Cordyceps sinensis is not completely light yellow. Some may be lighter than light yellow, while others may be darker. The color depth of the soaked water depends on the following factors:

1. The amount of Cordyceps and water; I used 1 gram of Cordyceps and 200 ml of water, and the water that came out was the color shown above. If the amount of Cordyceps and water used is different, the depth of color of the water will be different from the above picture. The less water used to soak a certain amount of Cordyceps and the more Cordyceps, the darker the color of the water will be, and vice versa.

2. Specifications of Cordyceps sinensis: The reason why the water soaked with Cordyceps sinensis is light yellow is because some colored components on the brown-yellow surface of the insect body dissolve into the water, but it has basically nothing to do with the mycelium components dissolving into the water under the surface (because the mycelium is mainly white, and the components dissolved into the water are colorless). Therefore, when the amount of Cordyceps sinensis is the same, the larger the surface area of ​​the insect body, the darker the color of the soaked water. For the same weight of Cordyceps sinensis, the smaller the specifications, the larger the surface area, the more colored components can be dissolved into the water, and the darker the color of the soaked water. From this we can easily draw the following conclusion: when other conditions remain constant, the smaller the size of the Cordyceps sinensis used, the darker the color of the water produced from it.

3. The color of the Cordyceps body; In the second item above, we said that the color of water is the result of the colored components of the Cordyceps body dissolving into the water. If the color of the Cordyceps body is darker, the content of these components is higher, and the color of the soaked water is darker, and vice versa. It should be noted that the color of the water soaked with Cordyceps cannot be simply linked to its quality. It cannot be said that the dark color of the soaked water represents good quality and good efficacy. On the contrary, more often the lighter color of the soaked water represents good quality.

4. Water temperature during soaking: When soaking Cordyceps sinensis, use water of different temperatures. The color of the water will be different within a short period of time (such as within 1 hour). If boiling water is used for soaking, the colored components on the surface of the insect body will dissolve into the water faster, and the color of the water will turn light yellow in a short period of time. If warm or cold boiled water is used, then the color of the water may not change in a short period of time.

Related reading:
What are the main functions and effects of Cordyceps sinensis? How much does Cordyceps sinensis cost per gram?