History of Chaga

Mushrooms seem to break so many rules they break all the rules.

Without prior knowledge, the look of any particular mushroom seldom can alert us to the powers that lie within this biological organism.

A case in point, the humble yet legendary Chaga mushroom also know in Latin as Inonotus obliquus.

Firstly, one can argue that Chaga doesn’t look like a regular mushroom, and that’s probably because it’s a parasitic fungus.

Not pretty, but potent

Black, lumpy, charred, and nondescript, Chaga grows on the trunk of the birch tree in forests of Northern Europe, Asia, and North America.

Looking back, the historical figures that used this mushroom seem to be from a common global region and its use has been long-standing spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Siberian and Chinese cultures were some of the earliest users of this mushroom.

The Khanty, Evenki, and Yaku of Siberia recognized its healing properties and brewed it into a tea or used it topically to treat various ailments.

In China, Siberia, and other parts of Asia, Traditional Chinese Medicine is an integrated part of medicine and culture. 

There, the Chaga mushroom is known as “Huang Qi”  considered to be a potent tonic for boosting overall health and vitality. 

In the West, where the weather is comparable, Traditional Indigenous Cultures of North America such as the Ojibwe people also used Chaga as a herbal remedy particularly, for skin conditions, and digestive and/or respiratory issues.

More recently, Chaga has been used and studied by Russian scientists. 

Their research began in the late 19th and 20th centuries, investigating this mushroom’s medicinal properties and documenting its usage by indigenous Siberian cultures.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

This innocuous and bland-looking mushroom made quite an impression on Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the renowned Russian writer and Nobel laureate. 

This Nobel laureate battled cancer and found himself investigating illness and healing through the medium of his works.

Solzhenitsyn made sure to include this functional mushroom in his semi-autobiographical novel called “The Cancer Ward”.

“He could not imagine any greater joy than to go away into the woods for months on end, to break off this Chaga, crumble it, boil it up on a campfire, drink it, and get well like an animal.”

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward (1968)

Challenging for Chaga, but good for us

During its growth on the side of birch trees, Chaga experiences a wide range of temperatures.

From freezing winter forests, hot to summer days. Chaga is constantly defending itself from dangerous bacteria, worms, and fungi as it grows.  

This constant environmental struggle during its growth process may be a contributing factor to Chaga’s abundance of biologically active chemicals.

These biologically active chemicals protect it from various environmental threats and are potentially linked to the benefits that have been assumed by various indigenous tribes over the centuries.

Believe it or not, there is much more to say about this mushroom.

Case in point, I haven’t even begun to talk about how Chaga was used as fabric dye and pigment. 

I’m going to save this topic for a future article on Chaga, so stay tuned, there’s always lots to learn!

Have you previously used this mushroom yourself to support a strong immune system?

Let me know in the comments below, and remember to catch me for some one-on-one time in our Facebook group and Discord channel.

In the meantime, 

Flow strong.

Asha ✨