“A gift from God”, “Diamond of the forest”, “King of the mushrooms”, otherwise known as Chaga, has gained many names in various cultures throughout history. There’s no doubt that indigenous people knew the worth of this special fungus. Cultures that live long, healthy lives and all have one thing in common, which is the use of herbal and natural medicine. Let’s learn how to make Chaga mushroom extract aka tincture.
Chaga seems to have the power to kick start you into an incredible new level of well-being.
What is Chaga extract?
Like with all tinctures, alcohol is used as the soaking agent for Chaga extract. The mushroom is combined with alcohol and soaked for a set period of time, quite often months. Once it’s ready, the Chaga is removed, leaving a concentrated extract.
Generally, there is no heating or cooking involved. However, with fungi like Chaga, heating releases more nutrients and benefits. Recipes that include heating the Chaga are considered stronger, more potent options. Heating expands the cell walls of the fungi, allowing for more nutrients to become bioavailable and create a stronger healing potion.
A Chaga tincture, otherwise known as an extract, is the most concentrated way to consume Chaga. It is best used at the onset of colds, during seasonal swings, or to combat recurring immune-system issues.
The tinctures are also easy to store, simply a cool, dark location is ideal. There’s no need to take up refrigerator space.
How to make the tincture?
The extract methods are called double extraction because both the hot water extraction method and alcohol must be used because alcohol alone cannot break down the chitin walls.
The alcohol extraction method is used to make the tincture, and it starts by breaking up and grinding the Chaga mushroom into powder. Using a glass jar, fill the Chaga powder until half an inch from the top. The rest of the jar fill with vodka and let that sit for 8 weeks. The jar must be shaken every day!
Because the recipe is time-consuming, it’s recommended to make it in bigger quantities.
For a step-by-step guide, check out our Chaga Tincture | Double Extraction recipe.
Benefits of consuming Chaga extract
The benefit of using a Chaga extract compared to an encapsulated powder or tea is that tinctures are specifically designed to retain the bio-availability of more sophisticated micro-nutrients that exist in Chaga mushrooms. Including Triterpenes, Sterols, Beta D Glucans, Antioxidants, and Phenolic compounds. The double extraction process emphasizes the potency and synergy of Chaga.
