Industrial Implications of Biomass and Bioactive Compounds from Cordyceps and Allies

The fungi from the genus Cordyceps have been used in the preparation of remedies in traditional medicine due to the several health benefits attributed to their consumption. In the present day, the production of fungal biomass and metabolites from Cordyceps is highly dependent on manual harvesting, which has a high environmental impact and is impractical for the large-scale production of biomass and valuable metabolites. With an increasing demand for these substances due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimutagenic, antimicrobial, anti-insomnia, antiviral, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory activities, it is necessary to identify opportunities for their use in everyday products and alternatives for their production on an industrial scale. This chapter highlights how the substances from Cordyceps can be extracted and recovered to be used in nutraceuticals, functional foods, cosmeceuticals, pigments, and drug formulations. Besides that, several options for the implementation of biotechnological processes with Cordyceps are discussed, emphasizing the use of vegetable biomass as a sustainable source of nutrients and the functionalization of foods through fermentation. The prospects for the use of Cordyceps in the industry are overwhelming; however, more research is needed to develop feasible and safe biotechnological processes with these fungi.