Chaga

CHAGA

Chaga, or Inonotus Obliquus, is a fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae. The sterile conk is an irregularly formed mass and parasitic to birch and other trees.

History

Chaga’s exact discover is still a mystery, but it is believed to have been used by the people of northern Russia for thousands of years as one of the first methods of transporting fire.

In World War II coffee imports to Europe were cut off, so Chaga Tea became a popular coffee substitute among soldiers due to its energy boosting properties.

Chaga health benefits were mainly unknown by the western world until the 1960s, when a famous Russian author wrote a novel that referenced its healing properties and lead to over 1,600 scientific papers.

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Harvest

Well-developed Chaga sclerotia are typically found on trees over 40 years of age, and the Chaga can be harvested after 3-5 years of growth. To harvest, the sclerotia is removed from the tree with a knife or axe, and then is cut into smaller pieces to dry. After harvesting, chaga can regrow to harvestable size within in three to ten years, and this can be repeated until the tree dies.

Anatomy

What we call Chaga is the dense black mass of sterile mycelia with decayed bits of birch tissue incorporated that can been seen on the outside of the tree. The hard, deeply cracked black outside of the Chaga is called the sclerotium.

Etymology

Chaga comes from čága, the Russia word for mushroom, which is itself borrowed from the language of the native people of the Ural Mountains word for fungus.