Decades ago, I rarely heard anyone in outdoor circles talking about chaga.
These days it appears in teas, health shops, and all manner of woodland conversations, though back then the only people I knew using it regularly were a few bushcrafters and winter travelers. We did not call it chaga.We called it True Tinder Fungus.
At the time, I had no idea it could make such a good drink. What interested us was the golden foamy centre — the part without the darker grain running through it. Once dried, it makes an excellent coal holder. A spark catches easily, and putting it out becomes a more serious discussion altogether.
Blowing on it greatly improves its mood.
A small amount powdered and dried on a rock catches quickly. A piece the size of a dime is usually enough. Something marble-sized may smoulder for fifteen minutes or more, carrying fire quietly along with it. The outer black crust is less enthusiastic in these matters. A dear friend, Martha Weber — among the most knowledgeable wild edible experts I have ever known — laughed when I described using it for fire lighting.
“Oh, what a waste.”
Apparently it makes an excellent and healthy drink. My far removed and unspoken response was that priorities sometimes depend on whether one needs tea or warmth more urgently.
Harvesting chaga is not especially easy work. It holds tightly to the birch and less known, on ironwood, and in any case, a little goes a very long way. Regardless of use, it seems best not to take more than needed.
I first learned about its fire-lighting qualities from a canoe guide friend many years ago. I still remember him standing there with an axe and flint, casually throwing a few sparks toward a piece on the ground. Away it went. One of those small wilderness moments that permanently improves your respect for certain ordinary things.
Some people may know this tinder from Northern Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski. Mors was one of a kind, and very much a gentleman. I had the privilege of camping and wandering alongside him once or twice in northern Alberta.
Those stories are probably best saved for another fungus fueled fire.
-Chad