SUN JOURNAL • December 27, 2022
Chaga is a multibillion-dollar business globally, part of the booming trade in mushroom derivatives driven by consumers in search of healthier or alternative lifestyles. Indigenous to Maine, chaga is already being foraged, farmed and commercially sold. Mention the word chaga and people seem to have two distinct reactions — either they’ve never heard of it, or they sing its praises and seek it out. Scientists are divided and, naturally, skeptical. Two entrepreneurs in Livermore Falls, Nikki Leroux and Justin Triquet, are so excited by the unsightly fungus they’ve made it part of their daily routine, spent hundreds of hours doing research, formed a corporation called JustNiks Mycosilva and forged a business partnership with a chaga company in Estonia.