Why you should try foraging for health-friendly chaga this winter

IDENTIFICATION

Chaga’s scientific name is Inonotus obliquus. It’s a parasitic fungus that’s harvested exclusively off living birch trees, ideally during the winter months when both the fungus and the host tree are dormant; I often collect chaga while hunting for snowshoe hares or hiking into backwoods lakes to ice fish. To identify this fungus, there are two main things to look for: an outer black crust resembling charcoal, and a yellowish-brown cork-like interior. A good trick to confirm its identity is to dig a small hole into it with a knife to check for the cork-like interior.