First ever Chaga haul!!!!

[barbourdurham]

Out on an evening bimble I came across my first ever Chaga find. I left it alone and carried on with my walk. All I could think about was that Chaga..... I returned to the birch tree I found it on and using a hard wood stick I prised two good sized lumps off. I left more than two thirds of the fungus on the tree as I really didn't want to take it all. Nature had shown me this magical gift and I'm loath to abuse it. Question is, what do I do with it?

I'm tied between making Chaga tea and making tinder. Any ideas people? (The birch bolete is for scale and eating...)

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[Toddy]

Do both

Brew up the tea, then dry out the chaga. It works fine after it's been made into tea first.

M

 

[barbourdurham]

Really?? Wow I dint know that. Does it need any special preparation before making tea?

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[Toddy]

Pick off anything that looks 'dodgy' but that's it really. It makes a coffee like drink. You can brew up a big pot load and it'll keep, without going mouldy like coffee does, and you can get at least a couple of boiling ups out of each batch of chaga.

Don't peel off the crusty black outside, just boil it up with the rest.
You can make it into stuff like sawdust to brew up, but it's not really necessary. I reckon that's just a way for the folks who sell it (expensively :yikes: ) to make more money. Both work, but the pieces give a double use.

Try sparking onto a wee bit of the stuff you have, it will catch surprisingly easily and it smells good as it smoulders too. Very difficult to put it out unless you submerge it in water, so don't use a big bit if you're just playing around with it.

M

 

[scarfell]

Although its good to always leave some, the fruiting bodies are only a tiny portion of the fungus itself, you cant wipe it out by cutting the visible bits


I'm always dubious of coffee without coffee, but interested to hear out it taste!

Are there actually any forgeable plants/nuts/etc with caffeine in other than tea and coffee?

 

[Zingmo]

This is great info.
Is there some way to definitely identify chaga?
I found a gnarly brown/black lump stuck to a tree and pulled off a lump: How can I tell if it's chaga?

Z

 

[Limaed]

I saw a flat disc off and use it as a hand drill / bow drill baseboard, I'm not totally proficient at the hand drill technique but I think it's a lot easier than using wood. I also use it as an ember extender and intend to brew it up when I get chance. I read an article about using a whole one as a stove but this seems a bit waste full. Wonderful resource either way.

 

[barbourdurham]

Pick off anything that looks 'dodgy' but that's it really. It makes a coffee like drink. You can brew up a big pot load and it'll keep, without going mouldy like coffee does, and you can get at least a couple of boiling ups out of each batch of chaga.

Don't peel off the crusty black outside, just boil it up with the rest.
You can make it into stuff like sawdust to brew up, but it's not really necessary. I reckon that's just a way for the folks who sell it (expensively :yikes: ) to make more money. Both work, but the pieces give a double use.

Try sparking onto a wee bit of the stuff you have, it will catch surprisingly easily and it smells good as it smoulders too. Very difficult to put it out unless you submerge it in water, so don't use a big bit if you're just playing around with it.

M

Thanks for the advice toddy. I am air drying it at the minute. I will make chaga tea this weekend in the forest and see how it goes. I will post in here the results.....

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[barbourdurham]

UPDATE!!!

I couldn't wait until the weekend.... grabbing a lump of chaga, ferro rod, pocket knife and metal cup I headed for the forest. I gathered materials for a small fire and found a nice gravel bank by a fast flowing stream.

(At this point I would of uploaded a nice picture of said stream, but BCUK is playing up...)

I lit a fire, scooped a cup full of water from the stream and set the cup in flames. Once the water had a good scold on it I plopped in my lump of chaga. The water slowly took on a dark coffee caramel colour as it came to a rolling boil.

(Insert pic of cup in fire, black water bubbling....)

Once the brew had been boiling for a couple of minutes I took the cup out of the flames as set it to one side. I took my first tentative sip....

Mmm..... not coffee tasting. Strong black tea maybe??? I let the brew cool a bit more while I watched the fire die down.

(Picture of me, sat by the fire....)

I took a bigger sip. Now, definitely tastes like a good cup of tea to me. Very pleasant. No bitter aftertaste, no need for sugar or sweetener. Twas a very nice brew indeed! I must have about 2kg of chaga, so I've got chaga tea for a fair while yet!

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[Insel Affen]

Was that by the Thune? I've spotted a massive lump of it down there.