When we believe of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the very first thing which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that’s all changing as a outcome of the groundbreaking operate of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by way of their business, Mico-lógica.
Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, positioned in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (additional normally identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s principal ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and visitors to the nation in the low-price cultivation of a wide variety of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing study with regards to optimum climatic regions and the diversity of substrata for mushroom culture.
The French-born Mathieu moved to Mexico, and in truth 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 definitely wasn’t considerably of an opportunity to conduct research and develop a business enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “considering the fact that reverence for mushrooms had been all but entirely 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 value of hongos. polka dot shroom bars is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is extra than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu at some point realized that staying in Huautla, though holding an historic allure and being in a geographic area conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a organization 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 certainly 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 related 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 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 one-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 much more time is essential,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Though coaching seminars are now only given in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez program 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 different mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation 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 different climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinct substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with right now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on solutions which would otherwise be waste, such as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (like the fibrous waste made in mezcal distillation), peas, the prevalent river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may possibly otherwise be left to rot or be burned, every single with adverse environmental implications, can kind substrata for mushroom cultivation. It should really be noted, although trite, that mushroom cultivation is a extremely sustainable, green sector. More than the past various years Mexico has in truth been at the fore in a lot of regions of sustainable market.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental great:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand occasions their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been applied to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and hence are an crucial car for habitat restoration. Analysis has been accomplished with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been suggested that the use of fungi has the potential to fully revamp the pesticide sector in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in every case the mushroom remains an edible by-item. Take a appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Methods Mushrooms Can Save The Planet.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can frequently be discovered selling their solutions on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re each more than pleased to discuss the nutritional value of their merchandise 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 can not be discovered in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet plan which contains fungi is really critical for vegetarians who can’t get B12, most normally contained in meats. Mushrooms can very easily be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones generally found in industrially processed meat products.