How to make Chaga tea
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus ) is a superfood aptly named the ‘gold’ of the forest. Find it growing on older, dead or dying birch trees in BC. It’s a wild mushroom that’s as hard as a rock, but can be smashed into small particles to make into tea. This is an ancient medicine used by cultures around the northern hemisphere to treat stomach ailments and boost your immune system. Also, you feel a bit like a witch when you’re brewing some up:)
To harvest your own…
You first must find some birch trees (elm or beech rarely too) that have the fungus growing on them. Usually, you look for a dead or diseased looking birch with a tobacco like yellowish stain on a wound in the tree. That’s where chaga grows. Chaga is a slow growing fungus, so if you find a small one, come back in a few years and it may be large enough to harvest.
Look for a a dark brown to black, hard often cracked and usually irregular or cankerlike fungi and you’ve found Chaga! Cut a piece off with a knife, simple as that.
Chaga tea recipe…
Directions: Break the chaga down by wrapping it in a tea towel and smashing it into finer pieces with a hammer. Boil then simmer 1 litre of water and add 1/4 cup chaga pieces to it, let it brew for 4 hours to extract the nutrients. Then strain out the chaga and reserve for another brewing and put the chaga tea in the fridge or drink it hot.
Come out on one of our wild mushroom foraging tours in fall to learn about how to safely harvest edible mushrooms. More info…