When we think of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initially factor which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But gradually that is all altering as a result of the groundbreaking operate of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, via their company, Mico-lógica.
Based in the village of Benito Juárez, positioned in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (additional normally known as the Sierra Norte, the state’s main ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and visitors to the country in the low-price cultivation of a variety of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing study concerning 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 lengthy way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there truly wasn’t a great deal of an opportunity to conduct research and grow a small business 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 learned that Mexico nonetheless maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional worth of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is a lot more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, polka dot shroom bars at some point realized that staying in Huautla, although holding an historic allure and getting in a geographic area conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a organization 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 occasion. Jiménez had moved to Oaxaca from hometown Mexico City in 2002. The two shared similar 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 company, 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 utilizes of mushrooms, so a lot more time is required,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
While coaching seminars are now only provided in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez plan to expand operations to involve 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 particular microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and therefore as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to different climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of diverse substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with correct now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on goods which would otherwise be waste, such as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (such as the fibrous waste developed in mezcal distillation), peas, the frequent river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may otherwise be left to rot or be burned, every with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It should be noted, although trite, that mushroom cultivation is a very sustainable, green sector. More than the previous various years Mexico has in reality been at the fore in a lot of areas of sustainable industry.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental superior:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand instances their mass, getting implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been used to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and hence are an crucial vehicle for habitat restoration. Analysis has been performed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it really is been recommended that the use of fungi has the prospective to fully revamp the pesticide market in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in each and every case the mushroom remains an edible by-product. Take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Approaches Mushrooms Can Save The World.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can frequently be located selling their products on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re both much more than happy to discuss the nutritional value of their solutions 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 eating plan which involves fungi is exceptionally vital for vegetarians who cannot get B12, most usually contained in meats. Mushrooms can easily be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones usually identified in industrially processed meat merchandise.