REMER, Minn. (AP) — People are roaming northern Minnesota forests in search of chaga, a black and crusty fungus that has become an alternative health sensation.
More people are searching for chaga with it fetching as much as $20 a pound, Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1JyrFT1 ) reported. Believers in the fungus say it helps treat ailments such as joint pain and Lyme disease.
Shane Dugan and Ted Frick started a chaga business in tiny Remer, which is about 100 miles west of Duluth. Dugan, who also delivers mail, noticed about four years ago a steady stream of 50-pound boxes being shipped out and asked Frick, the postmaster, what it was.
"He said, 'It's chaga.' I said, 'What's that?'" Dugan said. Frick didn't know and told him to look it up.
After doing some research, Dugan and Frick recruited foragers to harvest chaga. They're shipping the fungus globally, and Dugan said they have roughly 450 pounds of chaga in a storeroom.
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Dugan and Frick's business is careful to say that their products aren't intended to diagnose, treat or cure disease. Other chaga distributors have been warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for claiming their products can be used for treating diseases such as cancer and HIV.
"There's a lot of people selling this. There's companies selling extracts and capsules, making all kinds of claims," said Ron Spinosa, past president of the Minnesota Mycological Society and a regular chaga tea drinker. "They're selling it like snake oil."
The state Department of Natural Resources is concerned some people are illegally harvesting chaga in state parks. Ed Quinn, a natural resource program consultant with the department, said chaga isn't technically a mushroom and therefore can't be harvested in state parks.
Another concern, Quinn said, is how the chaga is being collected. He said people sometimes people climb trees using spikes and can cause damage, and that using a knife or small axe to remove the fungus can also damage trees.
Spinosa said demand is making chaga harder to find. It can regrow if harvested correctly.
Dugan said his harvesters are saying that finding chaga is becoming more difficult.
"I keep asking these guys, 'How much time do you think we've got?'" Dugan said. "They go, 'Five to seven years, maybe.'"
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mprnews.org
