Chaga is a polypore fungus (Aphyllophorales), which grows on birch trees. Chaga is at the top of the entire "medicinal" mushroom family. With a mystical history, Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus) has been referred to for centuries as the 'King of Herbs".

History of Chaga Mushrooms:

For centuries, Chaga has been venerated for its life enhancing properties and used for the treatment of numerous forms of cancer, tumors, common stomach ailments and digestive disorders, as well as many viral and bacterial concerns.

As a folk medicine, Chaga was ingested by the local people of the Siberian mountain regions in tea or powder form, inhaled from smoke, and applied to the skin for healing of injury or rash. Indigenous people from that area had low index of oncologic diseases and have been documented to live beyond 100 years of age.

Today, Chaga is wildly touted and sought after throughout Asia as a "cure-all" and is even sold under the banner of "cancer tumor herb". In the western world, the Chaga mushroom was completely unknown until Russian author and later Nobel laureate, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn introduced it to the world in his novel Cancer Ward, whose protagonist is cured of cancer with the help of medicinal Chaga mushrooms.

How Chaga Mushroom is harvested?

Chaga is a parasitic carpophore that enters a wound on a mature tree then grows under the bark until it blisters through the bark forming a grotesque black charcoal-like conk on the tree trunk; hence the Latin epithet "Obliquus". The Chaga conk grows with the tree over a 5 to 7 year period, thriving in the harsh Siberian winter environments, absorbing life-sustaining nutrients from the birch tree, until the conk flower fully ripens, falling to the forest floor, followed shortly by the death of the host tree, completing a 20 year micro-ecological cycle.

This superior grade of Chaga is harvested once every 20 years from selective birch trees. Then out of 100 birch trees harvested for Chaga only 2-3 receive the designation of "superior grade" and certification.

Because of its irregular shape and the way it is harvested, until now Chaga has generally been sold as dried, cut pieces of varying size. High potency Chaga can only be harvested in the wild. Many attempts to grow Chaga under commercial harvesting techniques have failed to produce viable potency and quality.

Properties and Ingredients of Chaga Mushrooms:

Chaga Mushrooms are vital as they contain Polysaccharides, Betulinic acid, Triterpenes, Germanium (a free-radical scavenger), nucleosides, phytonutrients, minerals, and amino acids including saponin, magnesium, chromium, iron, kalium, beta-glucan, inotodiol, isoprenoid, and others.

Dosage of Chaga Mushrooms:

• 1:5 tincture: 40-60 drops two to three times per day
• Tea: dissolve one teaspoon dried mushroom in one cup of water several times per day Benefits of Chaga Mushrooms:

Health benefits of Chaga Mushrooms are stated as under:

• Chaga contains large amounts of betulinic acid in a form that can be ingested orally, and it also contains the full spectrum of immune-stimulating phytochemicals found in other medicinal mushrooms such as maitake mushroom and shiitake mushroom.
• The chaga fungus has some of the highest amounts of anti-oxidants of any substance.
• Chaga Mushrooms are used to: 1) boost the immune system, 2) treat stomach diseases, 3) cure Intestinal worms, Liver and heart ailments, Cancers including those of the breast, liver, uterine, and gastric, Hypertension and Diabetes
• The active compound inotodiol present in Chaga Mushrooms works against influenza A and B viruses and cancer cells. Some experts proclaim that Chaga is the best anti-cancer mushroom of all.
• They also protect against Activity against HIV-1