Some strains of the fungus have been isolated from the traditional Indonesian food tempeh.

M. indicus is nowadays used for production of several homemade food and beverages especially in Asia.

[citation needed] The capability of the fungus in production of ethanol is comparable with that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Unlike S. cerevisiae, M. indicus ferments pentoses as well as hexoses and therefore this can be used for production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials.

[citation needed] The autolysate of the fungus has a high nutritional value and can replace yeast extract in microbial cultivations.