The word "cordyceps" covers two very different things sold in India. One is dug out of Himalayan soil with a dead caterpillar attached. The other is grown on cooked rice in a clean room and never meets an insect. Both are fungi. Whether there is an animal in the jar depends on which one you bought.
The short answer
Cordyceps is a fungus. Fungi are not plants and not animals, and in India they are labelled as vegetarian food. The cordyceps itself is never an animal, whichever species you buy.
The question keeps coming up because of the caterpillar. Wild Himalayan cordyceps, the one called keeda jadi, takes over the body of a moth larva, and what is sold is the fungus together with what is left of that larva. Many strict vegetarians treat it as non-veg. Cultivated Cordyceps militaris, the orange one, is grown on grain. No insect is involved.
How keeda jadi grows
The Hindi name says it plainly. Keeda means insect and jadi means root. The collectors named it for what they saw.
It starts underground. A spore of Ophiocordyceps sinensis lands on the larva of a ghost moth, which lives in the soil of high Himalayan meadows feeding on roots. Over a winter the fungus grows through the larva and replaces its insides with fungal tissue. The skin stays. In spring a thin dark stalk pushes out of the caterpillar's head and up through the soil. That stalk is all a collector can see.
Collectors above 3,800 metres in Uttarakhand dig around the stalk and lift the whole thing out: fungal stalk plus caterpillar-shaped body. It is dried and sold as one piece. There is no keeda jadi without the caterpillar, because the caterpillar is where the fungus lived.
So is it non-veg? Most of what you hold is fungus. But the larva's skin, head and small legs are still there, and you can see them. Many strict vegetarian households treat it as non-veg for that reason. That is a fair position. We sell wild cordyceps sinensis to people who understand what it is; the keeda jadi guide covers how it is collected.
How cultivated militaris grows
Cordyceps militaris is a different species from keeda jadi. In the wild it also lives on insects, usually a moth pupa in leaf litter, but almost all militaris on the market is farmed.
Farmed militaris starts in a jar or a shallow tray. Brown rice, or sometimes another grain, is cooked, sealed and sterilised, and a small piece of militaris culture is added. The fungus grows through the rice for a few weeks in the dark. Then the room is lit and cooled, and orange club-shaped fruiting bodies push up from the grain. Weeks later they are cut, dried and sold whole or turned into an extract.
At no point is there an insect. The fungus ate rice. So cultivated militaris is vegetarian, and vegan, by any common definition. Our dried cordyceps militaris and the cordyceps militaris extract are both grain-grown fruiting body.
One caution. Because militaris will grow on insects, some growers outside India use silkworm pupae as the growing bed instead of rice. That product is not vegetarian. It is rare in India, but it is why the substrate should be named on the label.
How militaris and keeda jadi compare on compounds and price is covered in wild vs cultivated cordyceps.
Why mushrooms get called non-veg
Even without a caterpillar, many Indian families are unsure whether a mushroom counts as veg.
Part of it is biology. Fungi are neither plants nor animals. They do not make food from sunlight; they feed on other things, often dead wood or leaf litter. "Not a plant" sounds close to "animal", so the doubt is understandable. But a fungus has no nervous system and no blood, and it does not move.
The law is clearer. Under Indian food labelling rules, packaged food carries a green symbol for vegetarian and a brown one for non-vegetarian, and mushrooms carry the green one. That symbol says whether animal ingredients are present, nothing more.
Then there is tradition. Some Hindu vegetarian households, particularly ones that eat a sattvic diet, avoid mushrooms because they are classed as tamasic, as onion and garlic are. That is about the food's place in Ayurveda, not about an animal, and it has its own post: are mushrooms tamasic.
| Question | Keeda jadi (wild sinensis) | Cultivated militaris (on grain) |
|---|---|---|
| Is the fungus itself an animal? | No | No |
| Is there an insect in what you buy? | Yes, the larva's remains | No |
| Counted as veg by most Hindu vegetarians? | Often no, because of the larva | Yes, if mushrooms are eaten at all |
| Vegan? | No | Yes, as a powder or whole |
| Acceptable in Jain practice? | Generally no | Generally no, as a fungus |
For Jain readers
In Jain practice, mushrooms and other fungi are generally avoided, along with root vegetables. The reasoning within the tradition is about the many small lives involved in how a fungus grows. Changing the substrate does not change that. A militaris grown on rice is still a fungus, and keeda jadi is a fungus with a larva attached.
If you follow Jain food practice, none of the products on this page are meant for you. We would rather say so clearly than sell you something you would not have chosen. Nothing here should be read as an argument that you should make an exception.
For vegan readers
For a vegan, the substrate is the whole question, and grain-grown militaris answers it. The extract is made from those fruiting bodies with water and food-grade alcohol, with no animal-derived processing aids.
Where vegans get caught is the capsule. Many mushroom products in India come in gelatin capsules, and gelatin is made from animal bone and skin. A capsule labelled "veg cap" or "HPMC" is plant-based. If the label just says "capsule", assume gelatin. Alchemy Dose sells its extracts as powder, so there is no capsule to ask about.
- Cordyceps of every species is a fungus, not an animal.
- Cultivated militaris on grain never touches an insect.
- Keeda jadi is sold with the caterpillar attached; treating it as non-veg is reasonable.
- Mushrooms carry the green vegetarian symbol under Indian labelling rules.
- That militaris is keeda jadi grown without the insect. It is a different species.
- That the green symbol settles a religious question.
- That any cordyceps is acceptable in Jain practice. Fungi generally are not.
- That a product is vegan before checking substrate and capsule.
What to look for on the label
Two lines on a label answer the veg question. If either is missing, ask the seller.
The species, in Latin
The label should say Cordyceps militaris or Ophiocordyceps sinensis, not just "cordyceps". The word alone could mean either. Sinensis means a caterpillar was involved. Militaris means probably not, so read the second line.
The substrate
For militaris, look for "grain-grown", "cultivated on rice" or similar. That tells you the growing bed was grain and not pupae. A certificate of analysis usually names the raw material too.
Why Alchemy Dose
Our cordyceps militaris extract is a dual extract at 8:1, fruiting body, grain-grown, polysaccharides above 25 percent, lab-tested per batch in India, and sold as a powder. The dried cordyceps militaris is the same grain-grown fruiting body, whole. Both are vegetarian and vegan as this post defines the words.
Our wild cordyceps sinensis is wild, from above 3,800 metres in Uttarakhand, collected by licensed collectors, and sold with the caterpillar body intact because that is what keeda jadi is. The product page says so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is cordyceps veg or non-veg?
Cordyceps is a fungus, not an animal, but the answer depends on the species. Wild keeda jadi (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) grows on a caterpillar and is sold with the larva's remains, so many vegetarians treat it as non-veg. Cultivated Cordyceps militaris is grown on rice or grain with no insect involved and is vegetarian.
Is keeda jadi non-veg?
Keeda jadi contains the remains of a ghost-moth caterpillar. The fungus grows inside the larva and replaces its body, but the skin, head and legs remain and are sold as part of the piece. Most of it is fungus, but the insect is plainly visible, so strict vegetarians usually treat keeda jadi as non-veg.
Is Cordyceps militaris vegetarian?
Cultivated Cordyceps militaris is vegetarian. It is grown on cooked brown rice or another grain in sterile jars or trays, and the orange fruiting bodies grow out of the grain. No insect is involved. Check that the label names Cordyceps militaris and says the substrate is grain, since a few growers abroad use silkworm pupae instead.
Can Jains eat cordyceps?
In Jain practice, mushrooms and other fungi are generally avoided whatever they grew on, and keeda jadi also contains the remains of an insect. Neither wild cordyceps sinensis nor cultivated Cordyceps militaris fits common Jain food practice. If you follow that practice, the products in this post are not meant for you.
Is cordyceps vegan?
Cultivated Cordyceps militaris grown on grain is vegan, whether sold as whole dried fruiting bodies or as a powder extract made with water and food-grade alcohol. Keeda jadi is not vegan because the caterpillar is part of the product. If a product comes in capsules, check the capsule: gelatin is animal-derived, a veg or HPMC capsule is plant-based.
