Chaga and wild garlic are forest “inhabitants”. The healing properties of the black birch mushroom were known in Russia as early as the XNUMXth century, and the use of wild garlic in folk medicine began even earlier. Now chaga is harvested for industrial purposes for the preparation of medicinal preparations on its basis, and wild garlic has firmly established itself on the gardeners’ homesteads. And all thanks to their beneficial properties.
The black birch mushroom, or chaga, is a parasitic organism that settles on the trunks of living trees (birch, alder, mountain ash, maple). Spores can only grow into the trunk if they enter the damaged area. After infection of the tree, a growth forms on the bark, and after 10–20 years it dies. Then, on the opposite side of the dead trunk, flat ridge-like growths begin to grow.
Chaga can be harvested all year round, although it is usually done in autumn, after the leaves have fallen, or in early spring. Moreover, they collect it exclusively from live birches. Mushrooms growing on the lower part of the trunk are not consumed. The growths are cut with an ax, the loose surface part is cut off, and the remains of the bark are cleaned off. Then the mushroom is cut into pieces and dried in the air or in a dryer at a temperature not exceeding 60 degrees. After drying, the mushroom retains its properties for two years.
Chaga pickers should be able to distinguish it from the false tinder fungus, which also grows on birch trees, but is similar in shape to a hoof and has a softer velvety gray surface with brown patterns
The composition of the black birch fungus includes a number of organic acids: agaricic acid, oxalic, formic, acetic, butyric, vanillic, paroxybenzoic; two acids from the triterpene group, obliquinic, inonotic and others. It also contains melanin, phenols, polysaccharides, pterins, lignin and other useful substances.
Chaga has found wide application in folk and traditional medicine. It is used for the symptomatic treatment of stomach ulcers and gastritis, relieves the condition and relieves pain in cancer. It also stimulates metabolic processes, has an anti-inflammatory and wound healing effect, relieves pain and spasms, and improves immunity.
However, chaga has contraindications. These include diseases accompanied by fluid retention, chronic colitis, dysentery, pregnancy. In addition, it is incompatible with a number of medications, so people taking medications should consult with their doctor before using this mushroom.
The easiest way to use chaga is to brew it with various healthy herbs: chamomile, mint, willow tea, raspberry and currant leaves, or add it to regular black tea. With this drink, people often escaped during the war.
For medicinal purposes, the broth is prepared in a thermos, pouring boiling water over the chopped mushroom at the rate of 1 tablespoon of raw materials per 50–80 ml of water and infusing it for 8–12 hours.
For better preservation of nutrients, you can use a more complex recipe. Boil chopped chaga with boiling water in a ratio of 1: 3 and leave for about 5 hours, then strain. Then grind the softened mushroom with a blender or meat grinder, pour hot water (but not boiling water) and leave for 6 hours. Strain the resulting infusion and mix with the broth obtained initially. You need to consume it within XNUMX days after preparation.
The broth is recommended to be consumed in half a glass half an hour before meals. To improve the taste, you can add honey to it. At the same time, it is advisable to eat milk-based products, fruits and vegetables, excluding fatty and spicy foods from the diet.
A decoction is also used as an external agent for healing wounds and inflamed areas of the skin and mucous membranes.
wild garlic, it is also a bear onion or wild garlic, is found in the wild throughout Europe, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus and Turkey. However, only plants grown at a temperature of no higher than 20 degrees are suitable for food, since otherwise it loses its taste.
Due to the high content of essential oils in the roots and leaves, no other plants can get along with it. Ramson is not suitable for livestock feed, but it has found wide application in cooking and folk medicine due to the beneficial substances it contains.
First of all, wild garlic is a source of vitamin C. Moreover, in plants grown high in the mountains, its content is higher than in the plains. It also contains carotene, essential oils, lysozyme and phytoncides. It is rich in vitamins B and PP.
Wild garlic is harvested already in April, so this is one of the earliest available sources of vitamin C, which is what the bears use: waking up after hibernation, they feast on this plant. Hence the second name: bear bow
Ramson is used as a bactericidal, antifungal and anthelmintic agent. This plant helps to cleanse the blood, prevents the formation of sclerotic plaques in the vessels, with its help you can treat diseases of the digestive system. And in the Middle Ages, it was used to prevent plague and cholera during epidemics.
The juice of fresh chopped wild onion leaves is used as an external remedy for various skin diseases. It is especially effective for treating warts and lichens.
The benefits of wild garlic
Decoction of bear onion can help with fever and relieve rheumatic pains. To prepare it, pour 10―20 g of leaves with a glass of boiling water.
Often, an alcoholic infusion is prepared from wild garlic. For this, fresh crushed leaves of the plant are poured with vodka at the rate of 1: 5. In this form, it is suitable for rubbing bruises, relieving neuralgic, radiculitis and rheumatic pains. It can also be taken orally, a teaspoonful 2-3 times a day to stimulate appetite, as well as a tonic, antimicrobial and antitussive agent.
You can not use wild garlic for people suffering from pancreatitis, cholecystitis, hepatitis, with inflammatory processes in the stomach and intestines.