Kopps flavor bark in the dark3/21/2024 Its fruiting body develops inside the tree and is rarely seen, as it only bursts forth after the tree is dead. Many mushrooms grow on trees and along the forest floor while the fungus remains hidden, but chaga works the opposite way. Kopp explains that a mushroom is actually the fruiting body of a fungus. After the parasite gets in through a break in the bark, it begins robbing its host of nutrients, a process that can span more than 80 years. As a hot drink, Kopp says, chaga delivers more antioxidants than açai berries and blueberries combined.Ĭhaga’s purported benefits to humans don’t extend to birches. But the peculiar organism is loaded with vitamin D, beta glucans and melanin, which gives it its characteristic dark color. It’s odd to think of chaga ( Inonotus obliquus), a parasitic fungus that grows primarily on birch trees, as something people buy to rub on their skin. New orders often required a frantic foray into the woods in search of the elusive fungus, which is harvested, dried and then ground up to make Birch Boys products. “It grows just out of reach.”įor the first couple of years that Kopp and Birch Boys co-owner Marko Jukic were in business, it seemed the amount of chaga they needed was always just out of reach. “That’s always the way with chaga,” he says. Kopp looks up at the inelegant growth and laughs to himself. High up on the tree’s trunk, just out of reach, there’s a black, charred-looking mass that’s roughly the size of a two-liter soda bottle. He suddenly veers off the path mid-stride and heads directly for a white birch tree, its pale bark popping against the greens and browns of hemlocks and white pines. Garrett Kopp, the 20-year-old founder and CEO of Birch Boys-a product line of teas, lotions and body balm-is explaining how different types of mushrooms appear throughout the year, when something catches his eye. It’s a bright summer day, but the forest surrounding Tupper Lake is cool and dark. Turning a mushroom into a cottage industry
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