Forbes Wild Foods
Produced In: Canada
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Chaga is a popular medicinal fungus used for its earthy caramel, mocha flavour and its many health benefits. Most people use Chaga chipped or powdered like you would espresso, or cold brew coffee, though it can also be used in rubs, spice mixes and tinctures.
Chaga is a parasitic black crusted orange fungus sclerotium that grows on birch trees. The parts of the fungus that are harvested are not exactly mushrooms (not a fruiting body and has no spores) they are a mass of mycelium and birch wood pulp, protruding from the tree like a burl. Rich in antioxidants, Bbeta-glucans, polysaccharides, sterols and betulinic acid, chaga has been widely researched for use in medicine and is used by people for therapeutic effects, post chemo treatments and in a preventative medications.
Chaga's use is a fairly new thing -- the first reported use of it in medicines happened roughly around the 1600's. It does not have a long standing tradition like many other mushrooms, such as the birch polypore that was found on Ötzi the Iceman.
Our Chaga is handpicked from the Canadian wilderness. Ground down into a powder for ease of use.
How to prepare Chaga
For a thicker darker drink, use powdered Chaga, place two tablespoons for every 6 ounces of water in a pot. Cover and boil for 15 minutes then transfer to a french press let steep for 5 minutes and enjoy. Sweeten to taste. Some of the Chaga powder should make its way through the filter suspending chaga sediment in the drink; the aim is to have a constancy similar to Turkish coffee. Cooking is required to make the suspended solids digestible. This method can become bitter so adding some cocoa powder/butter or cream can improve flavour. Store in fridge for up to 3 days best used fresh.
Forbes Wild Foods is a Canadian company that proudly supplies wild, hand-picked foods to restaurants; farmers markets; hotels; gift, food, and health stores; and to individual customers via our online store. All of our foods are sustainably harvested from the Canadian wilderness by trained, knowledgeable pickers. Our suppliers practice progressive harvesting methods -- ones that are both sustainable for its neighbouring plant species and surrounding ecosystem; and for the pickers themselves, whose livelihood is supported by a thriving source of wild foods.
Our specialized pickers (consisting of Indigenous people, women, youth, retirees, farmers, and professional foragers) are usually residents of rural or remote communities who respect the lands that support them. Only those wild foods that grow in great abundance and whose survival is not in danger are considered for harvest. Forbes Wild Foods also works with regional and northern wild food producers to help propagate rare wild food plants by reintroducing them to lands that need remedial attention, such as overgrazed woodlots and pastures.
