When we think of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the 1st factor 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 work of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, through their company, Mico-lógica.
Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (much more generally identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s principal ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-cost cultivation of a wide variety of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing investigation with regards to 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 significantly of an chance to conduct studies and develop a enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “due to the fact reverence for mushrooms had been all but fully eradicated by The Church over 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 additional than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu at some point realized that staying in Huautla, when holding an historic allure and getting in a geographic region conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a organization and cultivate widespread interest in studying 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.
Mushrooms chocolate bar met Josefina Jiménez at the summertime weekend mushroom event. 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 functioning 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 enterprise, and then life partners in Benito Juárez.
Mathieu and Jiménez are concentrating on three 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 a lot more time is required,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
While education seminars are now only offered in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez plan to expand operations to include things like both 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 diverse climatic regions is outstanding. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinct substrata, and that is 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 (which includes the fibrous waste created in mezcal distillation), peas, the widespread 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 and every with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It really should be noted, even though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a highly sustainable, green business. More than the previous quite a few years Mexico has in reality been at the fore in quite a few places of sustainable industry.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental great:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand occasions their mass, having implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and as a result are an critical vehicle for habitat restoration. Study has been performed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it’s been recommended 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 single case the mushroom remains an edible by-product. Take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Approaches Mushrooms Can Save The Globe.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can normally be identified selling their merchandise on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are both much more than happy to go over the nutritional value of their solutions 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 identified in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet program which incorporates fungi is particularly significant for vegetarians who can’t get B12, most generally contained in meats. Mushrooms can quickly be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones generally located in industrially processed meat items.
alexjames