The Four Methods of Domestic Chaga Mushroom Extract Powder
For the past 20-odd years, Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom has taken on more effort and cost to be directly involved in every manufacturing process in Siberia, Russia — from the purchase and sorting of raw materials to extraction, filtration, concentration, and drying — and imports and sells in Korea only the products completed this way.
Unlike our method, there are also companies that bring chaga mushroom raw materials into Korea and manufacture them in Korea. There are also those that frozen-import semi-finished products that have completed the extraction and concentration processes locally in Russia, and carry out only the final drying process in Korea. And there are also companies that simply order the chaga mushroom extract powder already made in Russia, import it as is, and sell it under their own brand.
Today, I will explain why we at Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom insist on local production in Siberia, and why the other methods are problematic.
1. Problems with Domestic Manufacturing of Chaga Mushroom
Among companies that sell chaga mushroom extract powder products, some choose the method of bringing Russian raw materials into Korea and manufacturing them here. Such companies promote themselves by saying things like "products made in Korea are more trustworthy" or "Korean technology is superior."
One of the ways chaga mushroom is fundamentally different from ordinary agricultural products is that oxidation begins the moment it is separated from the living birch tree, and its nutrients are lost very quickly. As time passes, the weight decreases and the core components keep leaching out.
Within the vast Russian continent, transportation, the difficult export and import inspections, international shipping by sea or air, and then Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety inspection — a tremendous amount of time is required to go through all of this. During this long process, the loss of nutrients in the chaga mushroom is like an unavoidable fate.
Besides the issue of time, there is another serious problem. It is the difference in climate and environment. Siberia maintains very low temperatures and a dry environment for most of the year.
However, Korea's climate conditions are fundamentally different from Siberia's. In summer, a hot and humid environment continues, and even in spring and autumn, the temperature and humidity are significantly higher than in Siberia.
Storing and processing chaga mushroom raw materials in such an environment gives rise to two serious problems.
The first is the acceleration of the oxidation rate. Because oxidation reactions proceed faster at higher temperatures, chaga mushroom raw materials that have arrived in Korea lose nutrients at a much faster rate than when they were in Siberia.
The second is the risk of microbial contamination. A hot and humid environment is the optimal condition for bacteria and mold to multiply.
Ultimately, the method of bringing chaga mushroom raw materials into Korea and manufacturing them there simultaneously carries two structural problems: the loss of nutrients over time, and the accelerated oxidation and risk of microbial contamination created by Korea's climate and environment.
No matter how excellent the domestic technology and equipment may be, it is impossible to produce the highest-quality chaga mushroom extract powder from raw materials in which deterioration has already begun.
2. Problems with the Domestic "Partial Manufacturing" Method for Chaga Mushroom
Some companies choose yet another method. It is a method of importing into Korea, in a frozen state, a semi-finished product that has completed the extraction and concentration processes locally in Russia — that is, a concentrate with about 35% solid content called "gustoi" in Russian — and carrying out only the final drying process in Korea.
However, this method has a structural problem. Gustoi is extremely unstable in nature. Unless proper techniques and conditions are in place, it hardens and spoils within just a few hours, like sugar or grain syrup.
Freezing this unstable concentrate, transporting it long distances locally in Russia, and especially thawing it again after it arrives in Korea — all of this entails the risks of quality degradation, nutrient loss, and microbial contamination.
There is a more fundamental problem. In the chaga mushroom extract powder manufacturing process, what most greatly determines the quality of the product is the extraction and concentration processes. The drying process is the final step of removing moisture from the already-completed concentrate; if done wrong it can ruin the product, but doing it well cannot raise the quality that has already been determined.
The most important extraction and concentration have already been completed in Russia, so it is flawed logic to claim that a product is better because it was made with domestic technology, merely on the grounds that only the final drying was carried out in Korea.
3. Problems with the Method of Buying and Reselling Already-Made Products
Among companies selling chaga mushroom extract powder in Korea, some import finished products or bulk powder already made by a local Russian manufacturer as is and sell them packaged under their own brand name.
A characteristic of such companies is that in many cases they do not operate a separate company website and sell only through internet shopping malls such as Coupang or Naver. The company that currently advertises itself as selling the most on Coupang is also one of these companies.
This method has a low entry barrier in that one can start a business without separate manufacturing facilities or a local network. However, this method has a fundamental limitation that can never be overlooked.
With the method of purchasing already-made products, there is no way to directly confirm or control any of the processes that have a decisive effect on quality — such as what quality of raw materials was used, what the extraction temperature was, whether there was any spoilage during concentration, how long drying took, and what the hygiene conditions were. There is nothing one can do but trust the ingredient analysis table or quality assurance certificate provided by the manufacturer.
A more serious problem is that most of these products are mass-produced in advance in order to be sold to an unspecified number of companies. For a product that must be made in advance without knowing who will buy it, cost reduction inevitably becomes the top priority by structure. To lower production costs, they end up using cheaper raw materials, simplifying the processes, and reducing the costs spent on quality control.
This is an inevitable result created by the market structure, regardless of the manufacturer's intentions. No matter how good an ingredient list they present, the buyer has no way of knowing what choices were made behind it.
4. Why Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom Insists on Local Production in Siberia
Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom's products are produced to order locally in Siberia solely for Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom. Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom directly decides and manages which raw materials to use, which processes to go through, and how to set the quality standards.
Starting from the raw material sorting stage, Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom's staff, together with the staff of a local pharmaceutical company, manually inspect each chaga mushroom one by one and grade them. In each of the extraction, concentration, and drying processes as well, the standards set by Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom are applied exactly as they are.
All of this is possible because Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom has built and maintained, for over 20 years, a system that is directly involved locally in Siberia and controls the entire production process. The moment you give up local production, this control also disappears.
There is also the claim that Korea's chaga mushroom manufacturing technology is superior to Russia's. Chaga mushroom is a traditional Russian medicinal material with a history of hundreds of years. The place where the knowledge and experience regarding how to extract and process chaga mushroom to preserve its efficacy to the maximum extent are accumulated most abundantly is, naturally, Siberia, Russia.
Authoritative documents such as reports from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian herbal regulations, and Russian medicinal plant encyclopedias record in detail the correct extraction methods and precautions for chaga mushroom, and the technology to implement these in actual manufacturing processes is accumulated by local specialized companies with decades of experience.
The Real Quality Made in Places Consumers Cannot See
Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom's principle of local production in Siberia is not readily visible to consumers' eyes. Looking only at the finished powder product, there is no way to confirm whether it was made in Siberia or in Korea, or what raw materials and what processes it went through. However, it is precisely the choices made in those invisible places that determine the true quality of the product.
Rapid processing immediately after harvesting, immediate productization locally in Siberia, strict hygiene management in GMP pharmaceutical facilities, complete control of raw materials and processes through exclusive OEM. All of this is connected as one under the principle of local production in Siberia.
The reason Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom has kept this principle for over 20 years is just one. To deliver the nutrients of the chaga mushroom created by Siberian nature intact, without loss, all the way to the consumer's hands — that is the unchanging promise that Ohkinam Chaga Mushroom has kept.
When choosing a good chaga mushroom product, please pay attention to these invisible processes rather than flashy marketing phrases. That is where the secret of true quality lies.
- Kinam Oh, kinam_oh@hanmail.net
