Making Chaga Mushroom Powder

To create Chaga Mushroom Powder, you need to grind it down from its natural form. However, before you can consume the powder, it requires preparation. This is because the cell walls of Chaga contain chitin, which is not digestible by humans. Fortunately, this can be done as easily as steeping the powder in boiling water.

Of course, this mainly applies to people who are sourcing their Chaga in nature. If you are heading out into the woods and finding your own Chaga Mushrooms, you will need to grind it down yourself, being sure to give it a good cleaning beforehand. If, on the other hand, you are buying your Chaga from a retailer—perhaps online—they should have taken care of these stages for you, and you can just brew yourself up some hot water and let your Chaga powder stew for a while.

But let’s back up a little.

What is Chaga?

Chaga is a type of mushroom that has a long medicinal history with humans. Used for centuries in places like Siberia and parts of Asia, Chaga was recognized centuries ago for its health benefits, such as boosting immunity. In more recent times, Chaga has started to find popularity in the western world as well.

Nobody would accuse Chaga Mushroom of being a particularly attractive fungus, but fortunately, it is often beyond recognition by the time it finds itself heading down anybody’s throat. It forms as a woody growth on Birch tree trunks, which may also be referred to as a “conk” and is around ten to fifteen inches in size on average.

The most common way of consuming Chaga Mushroom is as a tea, though another popular method is to create a tincture that can be used in a variety of ways.

The Benefits of Chaga

So what of those health benefits we mentioned above? It is thought to boost immunity, as we mentioned, though it could be argued that eating a little dirt would also your immunity, so what else does Chaga Mushroom have to offer? It’s important to note that this is not an authoritative medical post, we will leave that to more knowledgeable sources, but we can report on the things that Chaga has been used for in the past and is still used for today. These things include;

• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Some Cancers

One of the ways in which Chaga achieves this is by stimulating white blood cells, which are the engine that drives the human immune system. This can help your body fight off infections, but studies have shown that Chaga may also be able to help reduce inflammation.

It should be noted that some of the health benefits are observed in lab conditions on animals rather than proven to be effective on humans. Still, the evidence is there, and there is no harm that we have uncovered from consuming Chaga, so there is an element of “it can’t hurt” about the medical benefits of this popular little fungus.

Consuming Chaga Mushroom Powder

Once you’ve gotten yourself some fresh Chaga Mushroom and ground it into a powder—or perhaps purchased some powder ready to go—you can start to think about how you want to get that fungal goodness into your body.

Chaga Mushroom Tea

As we mentioned above, one of the most popular ways of consuming Chaga Mushroom powder is as a tea, and the good news about that is that hot water extraction is about as easy as it gets.

You can make Chaga Mushroom tea with chunks of Chaga Mushroom rather than powder, but if you do use powder, be sure to use a strainer or cheesecloth or something similar. If you don’t, your tea will be full of tiny pieces of Chaga. If you use larger chunks of mushroom, just be sure to give them a thorough cleaning before dropping them in your hot water. It is worth noting that you will typically get more of that Chaga goodness from smaller chunks because more of the mushroom will be exposed to the water. And as a result, the powder is the optimum way to make Chaga tea.

As for making the tea itself, simply boil some water, drop in your Chaga, and leave to steep for a little while. The more Chaga you have in there, the longer you want to leave it for. When you’re ready, simply pour the water into a mug. If you used chunks rather than powder, or if bits of the powder got out of your strainer or cheesecloth, no problem—simply strain the water again on the way out. And that’s all there is to it; not much different from making regular tea!

Chaga Mushroom Tincture

Making a tincture from Chaga Mushroom is undoubtedly more work than making a mere tea, but the result is a much more potent option with far more uses. Essentially you are distilling the Chaga’s essence into something that you will want to use sparingly, but because of the nature of a tincture, you can use it in a wide variety of ways, from a simple drop on the tongue to a dab or two on your meal. As for how you do it… well, we said it involved more work.

First of all, you need to get your Chaga Mushroom and grind it into fine powder—be sure to give the mushroom a good clean first. If you have purchased your Chaga Mushroom powder ready to go, you may want to give it some extra grinding to break it down as small as you can get it.

Next, put the powder into a one-gallon glass jar and fill it with water, stopping when the level is around two inches from the top of the jar. Then you need to top off that jar 100 proof vodka and let it sit for eight weeks while being sure to give it a shake daily.

Once eight weeks have passed, filter out the alcohol using something like cheesecloth, being sure to catch the liquid so you can measure it but also keep it safe because you’ll need it again. Put the Chaga into a clay pot and then add an amount of water that equals the amount you have just strained out of your jar. Mark the jar at the level the water comes to, and then add twice that amount again. You should now have three times the amount of liquid you strained out of the jar in your clay pot.

Next up, heat the pot until boiling, then let it simmer on a low heat until the water has dropped back to the level marked. Take the pot off of the heat and let it cool. The following day, repeat that process, adding twice the amount of water it took to reach your mark, boiling it, and simmering it until it reaches the line again. Repeat this process one more time—a total of three times—then strain out the liquid into a container and add the alcohol you strained out of the original jar. Let it sit for a day or two, and you have your Chaga Mushroom Tincture.

Remember, this is far more potent than something like tea, so use it sparingly. It may be worth getting a pipette that you can use to measure out small quantities of the solution.

Chaga Mushroom Coffee

Tea and tincture may be the two most popular ways of consuming Chaga Mushroom, but there are other options available to you, allowing you to get the goodness of Chaga in a variety of forms and flavors.

For example, Chaga Mushroom powder is not limited to tea. By throwing some in with your coffee in a french press, you can have Chaga Mushroom coffee as well. And, where there is coffee, there is the possibility of things like coffee-flavored shakes, coffee ice cream, coffee cake, and really anything that features coffee as an ingredient.

Final Thoughts

The popularity of Chaga Mushroom as a health supplement is undeniable, and while we can’t say that it really will cure some kinds of cancer, there is plenty of evidence to support the other health benefits, such as acting as an anti-inflammatory and promoting white blood cells.

Making Chaga Mushroom powder is something that anyone can do with little more than a surface and something to grind it down with. Just remember to give the Chaga a good cleaning before you begin. If you buy the powder, it should already have been cleaned for you.

There is a remarkable amount of versatility in how you can take your Chaga, from tea to ice cream, or as a drop of concentrated Chaga under your tongue. Regardless of how you decide to consume your Chaga Mushroom powder, be sure to exercise due caution. For example, there has been no research on the effects of Chaga on pregnant women. And, given what is at stake when you are pregnant, it is probably best for pregnant women to avoid Chaga until such a time as research has been done. If you have a health condition, be sure to look into any potential complications from consuming Chaga—as you would with any other food.