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Chaga? Help with ID please!


Ryanoceros

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Yeah that looks like Chaga for sure. 

Is that a poplar or cottonwood tree?

On my farm/bush lot there is a half acre area in the middle of old growth Trembling Aspen forest where  many Aspens have huge Chaga growth emerging from the trunks.

I hope to hear more from others about alternate tree species that are infected by Chaga. 

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Interesting. I have heard that Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) rarely grows on wood other than birch. I have never seen this.

There are a few things that look like Chaga (some are not even related to the fungus that caused the Chaga growth). Here are a few links to Mushroom Observer observations.   https://mushroomobserver.org/398673?q=16Rxw       https://mushroomobserver.org/170328?q=16QKC     https://mushroomobserver.org/72494?q=16QKC    https://mushroomobserver.org/136074?q=16S6M

Here's an interesting example I found on oak. Didn't ID it.   https://mushroomobserver.org/331170?q=16S6M

To reiterate JOHNY's question... What type of tree is that? 

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If it's not birch, which it doesn't appear to be, it's not chaga. I have harvested chaga commercially for many years for a local native band for their traditional medicines and that honestly does not look like chaga to me. Poplars and other hardwood trees get similar type growths but they are NOT chaga or at least not what we consider chaga to be.

To clarify...before I am shouted down. Technically chaga can and will grow on other hardwood trees. However, only the white and yellow birch chaga growths produce any medicinal properties. The type of chaga found on other trees is devoid of any medicinal properties and is basically worthless to consume. Buyer beware, for those purchasing chaga, some unscrupulous pickers will sell chaga from poplars and oak to unsuspecting buyers. However, look for darker color from these types of chaga. The birch tree is what provides chaga with it's unique medicinal properties. Just as birch bark tea does as well...chaga is just more concentrated as it strips the birch tree of these medicines. For that reason, I and other conscientious pickers, will never acknowledge chaga from other trees as chaga. Need to end that confusion because people pay big money for the health benefits and it is awful to see people being confused about the chaga growing on other trees. Please only harvest what you need, and never consume or sell chaga harvested from trees other than birch.

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From Mushroomexpert.com...."this mushroom is not going to cure your cancer, nor any other ailment you may have—and if someone has sold you a product based on the assumption that it will, you have purchased some snake oil from a witting or unwitting charlatan. The only health benefits associated with consuming Inonotus obliquus result from the exercise involved with hunting for it in the woods. There is no legitimate scientific support for the idea that mushrooms are medicinal in any specific way."

Plus from other reading, the potentially biologically active compounds in Chaga can only only be extracted under High Pressure/Organic solvent systems that are far beyond the technology of your average home brewer doing single or double extractions.

Still Chaga interests me. The few I have ground and brewed have virtually no taste. But, the end product tastes like "rain water" which is OK. I can't describe what I mean by rain water but Chagas make a clean water drink.

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I just read an article about the presence of oxalic acid --potentially harmful substance-- in Chaga. I think this causes some concern about the amount of Chaga consumed by a person, as well as possible implications regarding other dietary considerations.

 

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10 hours ago, JOHNY said:

From Mushroomexpert.com...."this mushroom is not going to cure your cancer, nor any other ailment you may have—and if someone has sold you a product based on the assumption that it will, you have purchased some snake oil from a witting or unwitting charlatan. The only health benefits associated with consuming Inonotus obliquus result from the exercise involved with hunting for it in the woods. There is no legitimate scientific support for the idea that mushrooms are medicinal in any specific way."

Plus from other reading, the potentially biologically active compounds in Chaga can only only be extracted under High Pressure/Organic solvent systems that are far beyond the technology of your average home brewer doing single or double extractions.

Still Chaga interests me. The few I have ground and brewed have virtually no taste. But, the end product tastes like "rain water" which is OK. I can't describe what I mean by rain water but Chagas make a clean water drink.

I find it odd that the author of this on mushroom expert suggests that there are no medicinal mushrooms. There are a wide variety of mushrooms with proven medicinal properties.

There are 1000's of published clinical studies done on many types of mushrooms, chaga among them, that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nicholas Money is just lazy in his research. Shame on Kuo for giving credence to this quite frankly. Harvard, and Oxford University have dozens of published medical papers alone with in depth clinical trials. I'm not sure why he is making this claim in his 2016 paper but it is erroneous in my opinion. He is right that many of the health claims being advertised for a type of mushroom may be grossly exaggerated or even fictitious but there is absolutely medical research proven health benefits to chaga and many other medicinal mushrooms. Will chaga cure your cancer. Nope. Will it boost your immune system, aid digestion, help stabilize blood sugar and blood pressure...you bet your arse it will and that is medically PROVEN.

Sorry if I am going off on a shpiel but there are many people who have eloquently and thoroughly debunked this paper by Money and a quick search on the internet will bring an extremely compelling and thorough counterpoint to his article.

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Just as an update I sent a sample to my (semi) local mushroom group (Indiana Mushrooms) to aid in ID. All signs are leading to chaga, but will see.  I am much more interested in just finding it than ingesting it in any way. I have morels for that :)

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38368397?fbclid=IwAR0jSbGx42PlyYUyo9MsqJAL_YAPTlQd-VLR5vAGPQ8aMmzXGt_pcYqDMoc

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