03.16.2019 - By Prairie Public
Have you ever heard of chaga? I recently saw a television spot about harvesting this fungus in northern Minnesota and selling it as a medicinal. Chaga is the common name for a bracket fungus ( Inonotus obliquus ) that parasitizes birch trees. A sterile conk grows just under the bark of the tree trunk, and as it grows it pushes outward, turns black, and looks as if the tree has been charred or burned. Some describe it as looking like burned charcoal. Eventually a fruiting structure will be