Chaga tincture is the ethanol extraction of Chaga mushrooms, which is a tree fungus that typically grows on birch trees in cold weather regions. Celebrated for centuries as a natural curative, Chaga mushrooms are packed with over 200 essential vitamins and minerals. And this nutrient-rich “superfood” is known to help improve immune response, lower stress, support blood sugar levels, and aid in digestion and digestive tract function.

Also noted as a powerful antioxidant, Chaga can help slow, and in some cases, reverse the aging process, increase mental clarity. In short, this phenomenal fungus offers a vast array of incredible benefits that contribute to human health and wellness inside and out.

What is Chaga Tincture Good For?

Often referred to as “King Mushrooms” and a “Super Food,” Chaga mushrooms are a potent natural supplement that offer a wide variety of extraordinary health and wellness benefits. Chaga boasts an impressive nutrient profile, including polysaccharides, phytonutrients, melanin, potassium, and betulinic acid along with a host of other minerals and vitamins that are vital to maintaining your body’s peak performance. These vital ingredients are instrumental in supporting your nervous and immune systems, in addition to providing natural detoxification, while increasing your energy level, and enhancing the overall function of your vital bodily organs. Chaga mushroom tincture in particular intensifies the effects, as the concentrated extract is more readily absorbed into your bloodstream, due to the ethanol (ethyl alcohol) infusion.

Key Health & Wellness Chaga Tinctures Provide:

• Improved immune system function (great for cold + flu season, Chaga tincture in rich in antioxidants that battle illness -inducing free radicals)
• Lowered stress response
• Anti-aging revitalization
• Optimal heart rate maintenance
• Stimulation of enzyme production and metabolism
• Increased mental clarity and function
• Optimal blood sugar levels
• Enhanced digestion and digestive tract function
• Better and more youthful looking skin and hair (with external applications)

How Do You Make a Chaga Tincture?

Chaga tinctures can be prepared to serve specific purposes, including body detoxification, improved immune response, lowered stress levels, and the like.  In addition to buying ready-made Chaga tinctures, you can also prepare your own compounds at home. Here’s a brief outline of how to prepare a Chaga tincture using traditional homeopathic method.

Ingredients:

• 3-5 good sized Chaga chunks or 3oz of Chaga powder
• 1Ltr of ethanol (ethyl alcohol)*

*Vodka or rum with at least 40% alcohol can be substituted for ethanol.

Instructions:

1. Place the Chaga into a clean, dry glass jar or similar container
2. Add ethanol
3. Close the jar or container tightly
4. Place the container in a cool, dark place for 14 days
5. Strain the jar’s contents through a cheesecloth
6. Shake well before ingesting the tincture to ensure sediment doesn’t collect at the container bottom

Alcohol is not a substance typically associated with good health. As such, adding alcohol to a natural supplement might seem strange. In this case, however, alcohol is not meant to be an additive, but rather serves a purely functional purpose. In a tincture compound, alcohol acts as a solvent, which extracts non-water soluble active ingredients — capturing the essential oils, alkaloids, and resins — from Chaga mushrooms. Additionally, alcohol is the only effective solvent that’s also safe for human consumption.

This said, it’s possible to reduce your alcohol intake when consuming a tincture. Here are couple strategies that can help:

1) Heat up, but don’t boil, a small amount of water.

2) Add the heated water to your Chaga tincture and let it rest for 5 minutes.

3) The alcohol evaporates, leaving behind the pure chaga liquid.

Though concerns over alcohol consumption are certainly valid, alcohol is never-the-less the best means to extract Chaga’s potent nutrients.

Moreover, don’t let this issue dissuade you from becoming a regular Chaga user. If tinctures aren’t for you, powder extractions, capsules, and pre-packaged Chaga teas are all reasonable alternatives. The key here is to improve your overall health and wellness by adding a regular Chaga mushrooms dosage to your routine, in whatever form you prefer.

Ingredients:

Approx. 100 grams of chopped Chaga mushrooms
1 ltr of ethanol (vodka or rum can be substituted)
1 lemon wedge

Preparation Instructions:

1) Put chopped Chaga in a glass jar or similar sealable container
2) Add a liter of ethanol (vodka or rum can be substituted)
3) Seal up the compound and place in cool, dry, dark space for 14 days
4) After fermentation is complete, pour the solution through a wire strainer (or similar filtration device) into a fresh glass container
5) Squeeze the lemon wedge into the finished compound*

*Adding lemon improves the tinctures taste, while also infusing the mixture with additional immunity enhancing vitamin C.

Historical evidence dating back to the 12th century suggests folk herbalists used Chaga mushrooms for a variety of common ailments. Similar historical records reaching back to the 16th + 17th centuries also indicate Chaga was used as curative by the “medical practitioners” of the time in Eastern and Northern Europe. Avicenna, a famed physician and inventor active in ancient Persia in the 9th century, references Chaga in his ‘herbal prescriptions.” There is also evidence that ancient Romans used Chaga mushrooms, a belief supported sales records indicating regular purchases from Northern European spice traders. And perhaps the most acclaimed example in “traditional medicine” is the use of Chaga extract by Slavic peoples for various issues.

The first “official scientific studies” on Chaga mushrooms were conducted in the mid-19th century. Subsequently, the USSR’s Ministry of Health approved mushrooms, including Chaga,since 1955. As a result, several mushroom-based medicines were developed and used by medical practitioners on a widespread basis at the time.

As this lengthy timeline demonstrates, Chaga has a long and storied history as a natural curative celebrated for its health and wellness properties. All of this said, however, there is very little data validating Chaga’s impact on human health in live subjects. Conversely, over 50 research studies have been conducted on both human cells and animal subjects, mostly in China, Japan, and Korea, which support the notion that Chaga likely benefits human health.

In light of these factors, it’s fair to say that Chaga’s acceptance as a credible dietary supplement comes down to the need for additional validating scientific research.