When we feel of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the very first issue which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that is all altering as a result of the groundbreaking work of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by way of their corporation, Mico-lógica.
Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, located in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (additional commonly identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s major ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and visitors to the nation in the low-price cultivation of a selection of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth 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 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 recent interview in Oaxaca. “But there truly wasn’t a lot of an opportunity to conduct studies and develop a business in Western Europe,” he continues, “since reverence for mushrooms had been all but absolutely eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries and I learned that Mexico still maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional worth of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is extra than a five hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu at some point realized that staying in Huautla, whilst holding an historic allure and becoming in a geographic region conducive to working with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a organization and cultivate widespread interest in learning 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.
AMANITA MUSCARIA 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 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 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-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 uses of mushrooms, so more time is needed,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
When coaching seminars are now only given in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez strategy to expand operations to consist of each the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers increasing distinctive mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation based on the specific microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and hence as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to various climatic regions is remarkable. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinctive substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with suitable 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 made in mezcal distillation), peas, the common river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may well otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each with adverse environmental implications, can form substrata for mushroom cultivation. It must be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a hugely sustainable, green market. More than the previous quite a few years Mexico has in reality been at the fore in several areas of sustainable business.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental excellent:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand instances their mass, having implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been used to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and thus are an significant automobile for habitat restoration. Study 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 completely revamp the pesticide sector 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 appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Ways Mushrooms Can Save The Globe.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can normally be located selling their items on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are each extra than content to discuss the nutritional worth of their items 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 discovered in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet which incorporates fungi is extremely significant for vegetarians who can not get B12, most typically contained in meats. Mushrooms can simply be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones normally discovered in industrially processed meat products.