Inonotus Obliquus

The black crusty Chaga mushroom grows preferably in densely wooded areas with large birch stock in the colder regions of Finland, eastern Europe and the Baltic. There it grows parasitically on living birches, which it withdraws valuable nutrients. These include colouring melanin and polyphenols as well as betulin. In addition, the Chaga fungus contains about 2 to 3 times more minerals (mainly potassium, sodium, and manganese, as well as small amounts of calcium, silicon, iron, magnesium, zinc and copper), but only 1/5 to 1/10 of protein and cellulose content of other porlinge. Already 5300 years ago in the Neolithic Ötzi, the Iceman, carried the Chaga mushroom with himself. In Siberia, the Altai, the Central Asian mountains on the border of Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and China, Chaga mushroom chunks are traditionally consumed as delicious tea.