When we believe of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the 1st issue which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that’s all altering as a result of the groundbreaking operate of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, through their corporation, Mico-lógica.
Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, positioned in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (a lot more generally identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s most important ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and guests to the country in the low-expense cultivation of a range of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing research 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 lengthy way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there seriously wasn’t a lot of an chance to conduct research and develop a enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “because reverence for mushrooms had been all but entirely eradicated by The Church more than the course of centuries and I learned 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 much more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mushrooms chocolate bar realized that staying in Huautla, whilst holding an historic allure and becoming in a geographic area conducive to functioning with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a organization and cultivate widespread interest in mastering about fungi. Mathieu became cognizant of the burgeoning reputation of Oaxaca’s ecotourism communities of the Sierra Norte, and certainly 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 similar interests Jiménez had studied agronomy, and for close to a decade had been working with sustainable agriculture projects in rural farming communities in the Huasteca Potosina region of San Luis Potosí, the mountains of Guerrero and the coast of Chiapas. Mathieu and Jiménez became 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 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 more time is expected,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it really is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Although instruction seminars are now only given 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 expanding different mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation primarily based on the distinct microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and thus as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to various climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinctive substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with correct now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on merchandise which would otherwise be waste, such as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (which includes the fibrous waste created in mezcal distillation), peas, the popular river reed known as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which could otherwise be left to rot or be burned, every single with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It ought to be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a hugely sustainable, green business. More than the previous several years Mexico has in truth been at the fore in several locations of sustainable business.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental superior:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand instances their mass, having implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been applied to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and as a result are an important car for habitat restoration. Investigation has been done with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it’s been suggested that the use of fungi has the possible to totally revamp the pesticide business in an environmentally friendly way. There are literally hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in every case the mushroom remains an edible by-item. Take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Approaches Mushrooms Can Save The World.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can normally be located promoting their merchandise on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are each far more than content to talk about 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 not be identified in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a eating plan which consists of fungi is extremely vital for vegetarians who cannot get B12, most typically 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 solutions.