If they are all chaga mushroom products, why do some people notice a definite change after taking one product, while others feel little difference even after taking another for several months? This is precisely what many people who contact us at Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom are most curious about. Today, I would like to speak candidly about the real reason I have discovered through more than 22 years devoted exclusively to chaga mushrooms—in other words, the secret behind the benefits of Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom.
Two Principles for Making a Good Chaga Mushroom Product
In fact, the way to make a good chaga mushroom product is already established. Use high-quality raw materials grown in Siberia’s natural environment, and manufacture the product using honest methods immediately after harvesting. It would be no exaggeration to say that these two things are all that matter. Yet fewer companies than you might expect actually follow these simple principles. There are three practical reasons for this.
The First Is the Issue of Money
Because chaga mushroom extract powder is made entirely from chaga mushrooms without any other additives, the price of the raw material accounts for the largest share of the product’s production cost. Chaga mushrooms are not cultivated by people; they grow on their own for 15 to 20 years or more in Siberia’s harsh natural environment. Their quality therefore varies greatly depending on their growing environment and the condition of the host birch tree. If you had 100 chaga mushrooms, their quality could vary enough to rank them from first to hundredth. Naturally, higher-quality raw materials are more expensive and increase production costs, so there is always the temptation to choose slightly lower-quality materials for the sake of profit.
The Second Is the Issue of Manufacturing Technology
To preserve chaga mushrooms’ heat-sensitive components, extraction must take place at a low temperature of 65 degrees Celsius or below, followed by concentration at a low temperature. However, without sufficient expertise in low-temperature concentration, the painstakingly produced extract can deteriorate and become sticky like grain syrup within just a few hours. This is why manufacturers with less technical expertise often use high-temperature processing methods, which are easier to manage and allow much greater production volumes. High-temperature extraction increases the yield relative to the amount of raw material used, but most of the important heat-sensitive active components are destroyed in the process, while unnecessary woody components increase excessively.
The Last Is a Lack of Understanding of Local Conditions in Russia
Siberia is geographically distant, and its language and procedures are unfamiliar. As a result, quite a few companies that lack knowledge of local conditions simply import ready-made products that have already been manufactured and stockpiled, then change only the brand name before selling them. Because these products are sold to anyone who places an order, without established trading partners, local manufacturers have no particular reason to use expensive raw materials. Ultimately, this creates a situation in which even the people selling the products may find it difficult to know exactly what raw materials were used or at what temperatures they were manufactured.
The principles are simple, but following them requires far more time and money, as well as a deep understanding of local conditions.
Why I Became So Fixated on Chaga Mushrooms
There is a reason we have become so unwavering about these principles. As a hepatitis B carrier, I have lived with fear about my liver health since I was young. I first learned that I was a carrier after entering university. Although I visited the hospital every month and took prescribed medication, my liver health remained far outside the normal range. My father also suffered from liver disease for many years before passing away at an early age, before reaching his sixtieth birthday, so my fear about liver health was particularly profound.
Then, in 2004, I began consuming chaga mushroom extract powder that I encountered in Russia. To check its potential side effects and benefits for myself, I tested it on my own body, taking 1 gram a day on some days and as much as 30 grams a day on others. I went to the hospital for tests every month, and about two months after I began consuming it, my test results reached a very satisfactory level. Needless to say, I also felt physically very well. Having become convinced, I naturally stopped taking my prescribed medication. Since then, I have continued consuming it every single day without missing a day, now in my 23rd year, and have gained confidence and assurance in managing my health. Because I experienced it firsthand, I came to understand more deeply than anyone how precious chaga mushrooms are as a natural substance.
What I Observed for More Than 10 Years at a Nursing Home
This conviction led me to become involved in operating a nursing home in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, in 2010. Because the nursing home was not legally permitted to provide medical treatment, the areas we focused on most to support our residents’ recovery were their daily meals and nutritional care. For more than ten years, as deputy director and later as director, I closely observed many of the people living there. Alongside carefully prepared daily meals, we consistently provided them with sufficient amounts of chaga mushrooms, and I witnessed firsthand how they recovered in body and mind from their exhaustion.
Why We Do Not Regard Chaga Mushrooms as Merely a Health Food
Because of these many years of firsthand experience, we do not regard chaga mushrooms as simply another health food that sells well. We have come to regard them as a precious product of nature, nurtured over 20 years in Siberia’s harsh natural environment, that must be protected with dedicated care.
- Kinam Oh, kinam_oh@hanmail.net
