Chaga in New Zealand?

Didn't quite know what section to put this query in so here it is.

Is anyone aware if Chaga can be found growing in NZ anywhere? Can't find any references of it on the web at this stage.

Cheers in advance

What is it?

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Originally Posted by Steve123

What is it?

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Fungi,northern hemisphere thing I think,preppers/wildcampers use it as charcloth

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Originally Posted by madjon_

Fungi,northern hemisphere thing I think,preppers/wildcampers use it as charcloth

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LOL Whats charcloth

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Haha, yep it has a number of uses. One of the main ones is it only takes the slightest of sparks and it holds an ember regardless of weather conditions. Second main use is in tea and as a supplement. I believe it has the highest antioxidant count of any substance in nature period.

Its a fungus that grows on trees, im just interested if it was in NZ at all. Id be keen on doing some more research into it were it possible.

In Alaska and most other northern areas chaga grows on Birch trees-we didn't see any two years ago when we visited NZ. Dried, powdered, makes a good tea for energy and feel good attitude. No caffeine

Thought you meant Chagas disease. Phew.

Go to nenana in Alaska, the dude (Jesse Holmes) on life below zero seems to have a few tons of charga in storage!

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

Is that the same as horseshoe fungus?

Gidday Juneau, yep thats exactly what i was meaning. With all the things that have been brought into into NZ over the years by travellers and immigrants i would have thought surely its made its way here at some point? Theres Birch in various places and they can also be bought from gardening outfits. Im hopeful i'll be able to track some down somewhere.

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Originally Posted by imaca

Is that the same as horseshoe fungus?

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He imaca, not quite. I've seen heaps of horseshoe fungus whilst in the bush, theres also another similar fungus to this that i come across all the time. The appear to be relatively common. They work similar to chaga but require a lot more prep and they don't hold a spark as well either. To my knowledge they're not edible either.

@Ingrid51 might know someone

Thanks for the referral Tommy. Shirley has heard Chagra, but it’s not found in NZ. She advises that Maori used various dried bracket fungi to hold an ember while they travelled.

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Originally Posted by Ingrid 51

Thanks for the referral Tommy. Shirley has heard Chagra, but it’s not found in NZ. She advises that Maori used various dried bracket fungi to hold an ember while they travelled.

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Ah right, thanks Ingrid. Yeah i see them all the time when out in the thick of it. Its certainly very common and they can get pretty massive too. With all the other random exotic plants that have been brought legally and illegally into the country over the years you'd think it was surely somewhere to be found?

I never heard of Chaga until now but after a quite Google and uncle YouTube... WOW!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q2dGq6tISc

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Originally Posted by Elrond

The bracket fungus that grows on native beech works just as well. But requires a lot of prep.
I needed to boil the it a few times ina lye solution and work it to death before I could get it to a workable solution.

I also use it for drying dry flies. Works a a lot better than synthetic products.

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Spot on Elrond....with a name like that im not surprised your informed of such things! :thumbsup:

I've seen examples of the bracket fungus prepped like that and deemed it too labour intensive to be worth while for me. Especially when you can just cut up a throw away pushbike inner tube for the same outcome.