Description

Also known as Inonotus obliquus, Cinder conk, Chaga, Clinker polypore, Birch mushroom, Black Birch Touchwood, Crooked Schiller-porling Introduction Chaga is a mushroom, a parasitic carpophore that looks like the charred remains of burned wood on the side of a birch tree (sometimes growing on Elm and Alder, but Birch is its favorite). The parasite enters the tree through a ‘wound’ in the bark of a mature tree. It then grows under the bark until it erupts in a deeply cracked, black charcoal like extension. It usually takes another 5-7 years for it to fully mature, at which point it falls to the forest floor, most times killing the host tree in the process.

Even in the most prime Northern regions, Chaga conks are somewhat rare

There is no expiration date.