When we believe of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initially issue which traditionally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But gradually that’s all altering as a result of the groundbreaking function of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by means of their firm, Mico-lógica.
Based in the village of Benito Juárez, located in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (a lot more frequently recognized as the Sierra Norte, the state’s key ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-price cultivation of a range of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing investigation regarding optimum climatic regions and the diversity of substrata for mushroom culture.
The French-born Mathieu moved to Mexico, and in reality to Huautla de Jiménez, in 2005. “Yes, coming all the way to Mexico from France to pursue my interest in mushrooms seems like a extended way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there really wasn’t substantially of an opportunity to conduct studies and develop a enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “considering the fact that reverence for mushrooms had been all but absolutely eradicated by The Church more than the course of centuries and I discovered that Mexico still maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional value of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is much more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu ultimately realized that staying in Huautla, even though holding an historic allure and becoming in a geographic region conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a business and cultivate widespread interest in understanding 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. liberty cap look alikes had moved to Oaxaca from hometown Mexico City in 2002. The two shared related interests Jiménez had studied agronomy, and for close to a decade had been functioning 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 small business, 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 1-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 utilizes of mushrooms, so far more time is required,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Whilst education seminars are now only offered in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez program to expand operations to include things like each the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers increasing unique mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation primarily based on the certain microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and therefore as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to various climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of various substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with appropriate 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 made in mezcal distillation), peas, the popular river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which might otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It really should be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a hugely sustainable, green sector. Over the past various years Mexico has in truth been at the fore in numerous areas of sustainable market.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental fantastic:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand times their mass, getting implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilised to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and therefore are an significant automobile for habitat restoration. Study has been completed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been recommended that the use of fungi has the prospective to fully revamp the pesticide industry in an environmentally friendly way. There are literally hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in every single case the mushroom remains an edible by-product. Take a appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Approaches Mushrooms Can Save The Planet.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can frequently be located promoting their solutions on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are both far more than pleased to talk about the nutritional value of their products which variety from naturally their fresh mushrooms, but also as preserves, marinated with either chipotle and nopal or jalapeño and cauliflower. The mushroom’s vitamin B12 can’t be located in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet regime which consists of fungi is extremely significant for vegetarians who can not get B12, most frequently contained in meats. Mushrooms can conveniently be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones normally found in industrially processed meat merchandise.