Chaga Mushrooms — Gift of God?

Or Just Another Great Ramen Flavoring

Chaga is one of the weirdest mushrooms you may ever see. A fungal parasite found on birch trees, Chaga is a hardened, blackened, crusty formation that looks like a bursting tumor. — Paul Stamets, Fungi Perfecti

I was nodding away at my computer like I do most afternoons around two, so I walked into our communal kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and stretch my legs. I bumped into John, the chief forager and force behind Foods in Season, the wild specialty foods company I work for in Washington state. We were talking about food when he offered me a cup of fresh brewed Chaga tea and proceeded to tell me about a spectacular braised chicken dish he prepared the night before.

John mentioned he had marinated some chicken legs in Chaga tea overnight before roasting which gave them a very pleasant, almost pheasant-like flavor. I was completely intrigued, I had only heard of Chaga mushrooms and their health qualities. No one had ever talked about using them in a culinary sense.

GIFT OF GOD

Chaga Mushrooms are known as the ‘gift of God’ or ‘mushroom of immortality’ by Siberians. Chaga has been used as an herbal remedy for well over 5,300 years. Chaga mushrooms are wild foraged from birch trees in Alaska and other Northern extremes…