When we think of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the first factor which traditionally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that is all changing as a result of the groundbreaking perform of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, via their business, Mico-lógica.
Based in the village of Benito Juárez, positioned in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (extra normally identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s major ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and guests to the country in the low-cost cultivation of a variety of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing research relating 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 long way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there truly wasn’t considerably of an opportunity to conduct studies and grow a enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “since reverence for mushrooms had been all but completely 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. One up chocolate bar is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is extra than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu sooner or later realized that staying in Huautla, although holding an historic allure and being in a geographic region conducive to working with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a small business 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 indeed 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 comparable 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 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 1-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 far more time is necessary,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it really is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Although training seminars are now only provided 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 growing various mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation based on the specific microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and therefore as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to distinctive climatic regions is outstanding. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of different substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with proper 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 made in mezcal distillation), peas, the widespread river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which might otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each and every with adverse environmental implications, can kind substrata for mushroom cultivation. It must be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a highly sustainable, green industry. Over the previous many years Mexico has in truth been at the fore in quite a few regions of sustainable market.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even greater environmental great:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand times their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and therefore are an significant car for habitat restoration. Research has been completed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it really is been suggested that the use of fungi has the potential to completely revamp the pesticide business in an environmentally friendly way. There are literally 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 Globe.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can generally be found promoting their goods on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re both extra than happy 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 not be identified in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a eating plan which includes fungi is very vital for vegetarians who can’t get B12, most generally contained in meats. Mushrooms can very easily be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones usually identified in industrially processed meat solutions.