[healing Herb]

The Chaga; Nature's Medicinal Mushroom

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Chaga Conk on a Yellow Birch
Note: Some Survival Topics readers have read this article and then harvested as much Chaga as they could find, up to several hundred pounds, in the hopes of selling it - only to be disappointed when the market did not materialize.
Rather than waste natural resources in an irresponsible manner, you are far better off to note the locations of any Chaga you find and harvest it only as needed. This eliminates waste, assures you of an always fresh supply, and limits your impact on the wild places you enjoy.
Raping the forest and other natural resources in hopes of great profit is known as the "Tradgedy of the Commons". We see this same problem occuring in the ocean fisheries, for example, where irresponsible overfishing in the quest for monetary wealth has caused great environmental damage to the earth resources we all share and need to survive.
Timeless Wisdom: "Take only what you need and leave the rest".
Yesterday while snowshoeing I came upon a fine chaga conk or tinder fungus, known scientifically as the chaga mushroom Inonotus obliquus.
The Chaga is such a valuable mushroom for wilderness survival and health I wanted to introduce Survival Topics readers to some of the ways in which it can be identified and used to help keep yourself in optimum health.
Where Chaga Grows

Siberians and other northern peoples in Asia, Europe, and North America for centuries have highly prized chaga for its great medicinal and curative powers. Those of us who know its value seek it out when traveling in the northern forest.
Chaga is a parasitic carpophore that enters a wound on a mature tree, usually birch. The chaga grows under the bark and erupts into a grotesque black charcoal-like conk on the tree trunk; hence the Latin term "Obliquus" in its scientific name.
The Chaga conk grows with the birch tree for five to seven years during which time it absorbs nutrients and phytochemicals from the wood. When the chaga conk flower ripens it falls to the forest floor. Usually the host tree then dies, completing a 20 year cycle.
It is estimated that only about 0.025% of trees, only a few of every ten thousand, will grow a chaga conk. This makes the chaga mushroom somewhat rare even in its prime northern range.
Identifying Chaga Mushrooms

Chaga ConkThe Chaga mushroom is a fungi that grows on the wounds of birches. Occasionally chaga is also found on ironwood, elm, alder and beeches but both paper birch and yellow birch seems to be its favorite.
This Chaga tinder fungus I found while snowshoeing yesterday is growing on a large yellow-birch tree that had been damaged years ago during logging operations. The outside of this easy to identify mushroom somewhat resembles the charred remains of burnt wood, being black and crumbly.
Of irregular shape, the inside of a chaga is the color of rusted iron or yellowish with white or cream colored veins. It is corky of texture and tends to become lighter in color closest to the tree. You can see the colors in third picture where I have pulled the chaga off the yellow birch tree using my tomahawk.
Chaga is known as a polypore fungus, which means it has pores instead of gills. The chaga mushroom does not hold a great deal of water as does other types of mushrooms. As the chaga conk grows its outside dries out, turns black, and cracks. I have seen large Chagas well over three feet (one meter) in length and one foot (.33 meter) thick.
The chaga mushroom is commonly known as the true “tinder fungus” for its use in building fires. In fact, chaga is the true tinder fungus, as opposed to the false tinder fungus which is shelf-like in shape and does not crumble.
Wilderness Medicinal Mushroom

Fire making aside, the chaga mushroom is also well known for its huge load of immune stimulating phytochemicals and betulin that can be consumed as a tea. Some of these compounds are derived from the birch tree and bark it consumes and concentrates in its flesh.
The chaga fungus has some of the highest amounts of anti-oxidants of any substance consumed by man. Siberian folk medicine and modern uses of a tea made from Chaga fungus include:

• boosting the immune system
• treating stomach diseases
• Intestinal worms
• Liver and heart ailments
• Cancers including those of the breast, liver, uterine, and gastric
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• anti-tumor activity
• The active compound inotodiol which works against influenza A and B viruses and cancer cells.
• Activity against HIV-1
• As an anti-inflammatory

Some experts claim the Chaga is the best anti-cancer mushroom of all.
Properties and Ingredients of Chaga include:

• Polysaccharides that enhance the immune system; treat cancer, live, HIV virus and other bacterial and viral infections.
• Betulinic acid to counter viral infections and tumors
• Triterpenes to lower cholesterol, improve circulation, detoxify the liver, treat hepatitis, bronchitis, asthma, and coughs.
• Germanium (a free-radical scavenger) to cleanse the blood, normalize blood pressure, and prevent tumors.
• Other nucleosides, phytonutrients, minerals, and amino acids including saponin, magnesium, chromium, iron, kalium, beta-glucan, inotodiol, isoprenoid, and others.

How to Make Chaga Tea

Harvesting Chaga“He could not imagine any greater joy than to go away into the woods for months on end, to break off this chaga, crumble it, boil it up on a campfire, drink it and get well like an animal. To walk through the forest for months, to know no other care than to get better! Just as a dog goes to search for some mysterious grass that will save him…”
—From Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn”
Some northern peoples are said to drink Chaga tea on a regular basis as Westerners do coffee and suffer very low cancer rates because of it. Chaga is a bit on the bitter side, rather like coffee, and cork-like in texture.
When I come upon chaga in the forest I am apt to brake off a bit to chew on, and am sure to pack some away for use at home. With an item from nature’s free pharmacy that is this valuable to my health I make sure my chaga stocks are always full and take an extra hit when the opportunity presents itself. I don’t mind chewing on a bit of cork-like chaga conk since it is giving me a great boost of immune stimulating phytochemicals


just google CHAGA....LOTS OF INFO !

GONNA TRY THE EXTRACT! GOOD HEALTH!