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MWK.farm’s Wild Alaskan Chaga
Alaskan Chaga and Phellinus linteus mushrooms, whole, chunks or ground with free shipping.
Handpicked by Joey personally, dried and properly stored until time of sale.
Both of these mushrooms are known to have great health benefits. Drink as a tea, or grind it up and put it in your favorite food recipes. Use it daily for best results.
Chaga Mushroom has been found to contain over 215 phytonutrients — plant chemicals which are non-nutritive with protective and disease-preventing properties. Phellinus mushrooms are similar in nutrients.
Wild Alaskan Chaga and Antioxidant Levels When a food is measured for antioxidant potential, it is measured on a scale known as Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC).
Below are the ORAC (per 1g) levels for some foods high in antioxidants:
Chaga – 36,557
Acai Berry – 800
Goji Berry – 400
Alaska Blueberry – 76
Wild Blueberry (Lower 48) – 61
Cultivated Blueberry – 24.5
(USDA / Tufts University – Boston, MA/University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension) Levels of antioxidants in foods harvested closer to the magnetic poles of earth are generally higher than in those collected closer to the equator.
While the Chaga Mushroom is obtained through much of the United States, Alaskan Chaga has higher potential levels of antioxidants compared to that which is found in the Lower 48.
Phytonutrients: The Siberian Chaga Mushroom has been found to contain over 215 phytonutrients – plant chemicals which are non-nutritive with protective and disease-preventing properties. The World Trade Organization has classified as a Medicinal Mushroom while it has also been approved by the U.S.F.D.A. as safe for “Food” Use/Supplement.
The prime phytonutrient found in Chaga is betulinic acid which has been shown to have anti-retroviral, anti-malarial, and anti-inflammatory properties as well as recently discovered anti-cancer properties. Other useful phytonutients present in Chaga include: 29 Beta Glucans, Saponins, SOD (superoxide dismutase), amino acids, Germanium, Triterpenes, organic minerals, polysaccharides and Triterpenes.
There are also many important vitamins and minerals contained within the Chaga mushroom.
Chaga Consumption: The Chaga mushroom is typically consumed in two different ways. Since its texture is hard and woody, it cannot be eaten like many other mushrooms found in the grocery store. Also, heat is needed to release the beneficial chemicals from the chitin that makes up the cellular walls of the mushroom. The first, most common method is to make a tea from the ground Chaga. In fact, Chaga tea has been consumed by Siberians and Russians since the 16th century!
Instructions for Making Chaga Tea
For very potent tea, just put 3 heaping tbsps. (1/4 cup) of Chaga powder, a Chaga tea bag or 3-4 small chunks (1/2 cup of chunks) into a 2-liter pot of water and steep (I use a pot that holds around a gallon of water) for 3 to 4 hours. (DO NOT BOIL)
Then strain through a fine strainer or cheesecloth (not necessary if using tea bags or chunks). Drink hot or cold! This makes enough tea for a few days, drinking 4-6 cups a day. Chaga also makes a very good ice tea. After you make your tea do not throw away your Chaga chunks, put them in a bag and place them in the freezer for future use.
You can reuse your Chaga chunks 3-4 times until there’s no color being released from the Chaga. Many people are now using their Crock Pots to brew the tea.
Chaga is very mild in flavor, so you can add lemon & honey to flavor it or a sprig of mint. Mix Chaga tea half and half with beer or coffee for a refreshing drink!
anotherwww.MWK.Farm recipe for Chaga
As you will read in our Chaga Antioxidants and Key Ingredients and Chaga Health Benefits posts, chaga contains many healthy bioactive ingredients that can improve our overall health. But how do we prepare chaga to get the most from it and extract and consume all these healthy ingredients? This post explains how to prepare MWK.Farm chaga by covering the two main preparation/extraction methods and a delicious recipe for each one.
Before you get started, you will obviously need some chaga to begin with! If you plan on buying some, please go to http://www.MWK.farm to check it out.
Why Do We Need To Prepare Chaga?
Locked inside the cell walls of chaga are all the healthy bioactive ingredients, such as the beta-glucans. These cell walls are made of chitin, which is the hardest all-natural material known to man and, therefore, indigestible without proper preparation. This means that an extraction process is required in order to release these bioactive ingredients and to prepare chaga for human consumption.
What Are The Extraction Methods?
There are two main methods to prepare chaga at home, each having its own pros & cons.
1. Hot Water Extraction: Chaga Tea
Hot water extraction is the most common, easiest and cheapest method to prepare chaga. It’s similar to the traditional tea-making process, whereby the chaga chunks or powder are steeped in hot water for a period of time, strained and then drunk as a tea.
When using this method, all the water-soluble components, such as the polyphenols and beta-glucans, will be present in the resulting extract. However, water-insoluble components, such as phytosterols, and betulinic acid will be missing. Although I love drinking a good chaga tea, and it’s still very healthy, missing out on these healthy bioactive ingredients is a big loss.
2. Double Extraction: Chaga Tincture
Another way to prepare chaga is by making a tincture. A tincture is an alcoholic derivative of a plant, mushroom or herb. Tinctures are more effective in extracting the medicinal components and preserving them for longer periods of time. Tinctures are also useful because they're simple to use, quickly absorbed, and easily added to recipes, drinks, etc.
A tincture uses alcohol extraction method. This method extracts some of the water-insoluble components, such as betulinic acid, and phytosterols that the hot water extraction alone cannot do. This extraction process is generally used in combination with hot-water extraction since alcohol alone will not break down chitin effectively.
Chaga Recipes
Cleaning and Drying
Before we can begin any Chaga recipe, raw unprocessed Chaga must first have any parts of the tree bark removed. It then needs to be chopped into smaller chunks and dried. It can then be left as chunks or ground into a powder, depending on how you want to use it. If you're buying processed Chaga from MWK Inc., this part is most likely taken care of.
Note: If like me, you do not have time for the recipes below first thing in the morning or late at night, a great quick alternative is to purchase Chaga Elixir from MWK.farm . You simply open the packet, mix the contents with some hot water and that's it! To check it out, please go to http://www.mwk.farm .
Simple Chaga Tea Recipe
Ingredients
Mwk.farm Chaga Chunks
Maple syrup or Honey to taste
Instructions
1. Break up the chaga into smaller chunks, roughly 1 inch in size.
2. In a 1 litre pot of water, drop in a handful of chunks and bring to a boil. Let them simmer until the water turns a reddish brown color, or, at least, an hour to extract more of the bioactive ingredients.
3. Strain the tea into a mug and add some maple syrup or honey to taste.
You can reuse the chaga chunks several times before they start to lose their strength. Simply put them in a mason jar without a lid, and store in the fridge.
Chaga Tincture Recipe
Ingredients
Mwk.farm Chaga Chunks . Use enough to almost fill a one-gallon jar after it's ground into a powder.
At least 100 proof vodka or google 200 proof laboratory grade/food grade alcohol for sale.
Instructions
The recipe below combines both the alcohol (part 1) and hot water (part 2) extraction methods and requires a lot of patience. Note that this recipe is based upon a 1-gallon size jar of tincture. However, any size jar will do, just try to keep the ratio of chaga to alcohol the same. However, given that it takes so long to make, it makes sense to make it in large batches.
Part 1 - Preparing the Chaga and Alcohol Extraction
1. Break up the chaga into smaller chunks, roughly 1 inch in size.
2. Grind the pieces into a powder. You can use a coffee/spice grinder or a good blender to do this.
3. Almost fill a 1-gallon glass jar with the MWK.farm chaga powder, BUT leave close to 2 inches of room at the top.
4. Fill up the rest of the jar with vodka.
5. Let it sit for at least 8 weeks and shake the jar every day.
Part 2 - Hot Water Extraction
1. After at least 8 weeks, strain out the alcohol into another glass jar using a cheesecloth.
2. Put the chaga into a clay pot.
3. Measure an amount of water equal to alcohol that was strained in step 1.
4. Pour the water into the pot of chaga and then use a wooden chopstick to measure the water level. Use a sharp knife to mark the exact water level on the chopstick. This is where you want the final water level to be after the decoction is complete. Fill the pot with twice that amount of water.
5. Bring the pot to boil and let it simmer on low heat.
6. Keep checking the water level with the chopstick. When the water level is the same or less than the mark on the chopstick, take it off the heat and let it cool.
7. The next day, add more water and do another decoction. Repeat for a total of three decoctions.
8. Once the third decoction is finished, let it cool. Then mix the decoction with the alcohol saved from earlier and store in a glass jar.
9. That's it, you now have a Chaga Tincture! Note: 1tsp is enough to add to a single 8oz drink.
Disclaimer:
Chaga, Fomes fomentarius and Phellinus linteus mushrooms are a detoxifying homeopathic remedy. It should not be consumed by people currently taking Penicillin or Glucose intravenously. The statements made on this page are not evaluated by the FDA and are for educational purposes only. Please do not use these statements to treat or diagnose any condition and be sure to consult your health care professional for treatment, diagnosis, and concerns before use.
Posted : 08/07/2016 6:23 pm
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