Key takeaways
- The harvested chaga conk is a sterile mass, not a fruiting body.
- The true fruiting body is thin, short-lived and forms after the tree dies.
- The black surface is rich in melanin.
- This is why chaga products are labelled simply “chaga”.
Chaga is often called a mushroom, but what people harvest isn’t a mushroom in the usual sense. This article explains what chaga really is.
What is harvested
The familiar chaga growth, black and cracked on the outside and rusty brown inside, is a sterile mass, often called a conk or sclerotium. It doesn’t produce spores. It develops over years as the fungus grows within the tree.
Where are the spores?
Inonotus obliquus does produce a true fruiting body, but typically only after the host tree has died. It forms as a thin, crust-like layer under the bark and is short-lived and rarely noticed.
Why the black colour?
The outer surface is rich in melanin, a dark pigment that may help protect the fungus. See Chaga Compounds Explained.
Why this matters
- Labelling: this is why chaga products are described simply as “chaga” rather than “fruiting body”.
- Cultivation: the conk is hard to cultivate, so chaga is almost always wild-harvested. See Chaga Harvesting and Sustainability.
- Mycelium products: cultivated chaga mycelium is a different material from the wild conk.
Our chaga
Our Chaga tincture is made from wild chaga harvested from birch in Finland. See The Complete Guide to Chaga.