When we believe of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the 1st issue which traditionally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that is all altering as a outcome of the groundbreaking work of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, via their corporation, Mico-lógica.
Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, located in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (a lot more usually recognized as the Sierra Norte, the state’s major ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and visitors to the nation in the low-price cultivation of a assortment of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing analysis regarding optimum climatic regions and the diversity of substrata for mushroom culture.
The French-born Mathieu moved to Mexico, and in fact to Huautla de Jiménez, in 2005. “Yes, coming all the way to Mexico from France to pursue my interest in mushrooms appears like a lengthy way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a recent interview in Oaxaca. “But there yoursite.com of an chance to conduct studies and grow a organization in Western Europe,” he continues, “considering the fact that reverence for mushrooms had been all but fully eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries and I discovered that Mexico nevertheless maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional value of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is extra than a five hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu sooner or later realized that staying in Huautla, even though holding an historic allure and being in a geographic area conducive to functioning with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a business and cultivate widespread interest in finding out about fungi. Mathieu became cognizant of the burgeoning reputation of Oaxaca’s ecotourism communities of the Sierra Norte, and indeed the Feria Regional de Hongos Silvestres (regional wild mushroom festival), held annually in Cuahimoloyas.
Mathieu met Josefina Jiménez at the summertime weekend mushroom event. Jiménez had moved to Oaxaca from hometown Mexico City in 2002. The two shared equivalent interests Jiménez had studied agronomy, and for close to a decade had been operating with sustainable agriculture projects in rural farming communities in the Huasteca Potosina area of San Luis Potosí, the mountains of Guerrero and the coast of Chiapas. Mathieu and Jiménez became organization, and then life partners in Benito Juárez.
Mathieu and Jiménez are concentrating on 3 mushroom species in their hands-on seminars oyster (seta), shitake and reishi. Their one particular-day workshops are for oyster mushrooms, and two-day clinics for the latter two species of fungus. “With reishi, and to a lesser extent shitake, we’re also teaching a fair bit about the medicinal makes use of of mushrooms, so much more time is needed,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Even though education seminars are now only offered in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez plan to expand operations to consist of each the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers growing diverse mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation primarily based on the certain microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and thus as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to distinct climatic regions is remarkable. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of different substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with ideal now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on products which would otherwise be waste, such as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (like the fibrous waste created in mezcal distillation), peas, the common river reed recognized as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which could otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It need to be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a extremely sustainable, green business. Over the past numerous years Mexico has in fact been at the fore in numerous areas of sustainable business.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental fantastic:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand occasions their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and thus are an critical automobile for habitat restoration. Study has been done with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it’s been recommended that the use of fungi has the possible to completely revamp the pesticide industry in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in each case the mushroom remains an edible by-item. Take a appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The Globe.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can often be identified selling their solutions on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re each additional than content to talk about the nutritional value of their goods which range from naturally their fresh mushrooms, but also as preserves, marinated with either chipotle and nopal or jalapeño and cauliflower. The mushroom’s vitamin B12 cannot be discovered in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a eating plan which involves fungi is exceptionally crucial for vegetarians who can not get B12, most generally contained in meats. Mushrooms can easily be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones usually discovered in industrially processed meat products.