When we consider mushrooms as well as the southerly Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initial thing which generally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez as well as hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. Yet gradually that’s all changing as an outcome of the innovative work of Josefina Jiménez as well as Johann Mathieu in mycology, via their company, Mico-lógica.
Based in the village of Benito medicinal mushroomsс Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán area (more generally known as the Sierra Norte, the state’s major ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s objective is threefold: to educate both Mexicans and also site visitors to the nation in the inexpensive cultivation of a variety of mushroom species; to inform about the medicinal, dietary and also ecological (sustainable) worth of mushrooms; and to conduct recurring research study pertaining to maximum climatic regions as well as the diversity of substrata for mushroom society.
The French-born Mathieu transferred to Mexico, and also as a matter of fact to Huautla de Jiménez, in 2005. “Yes, coming completely to Mexico from France to pursue my passion in mushrooms feels like a lengthy way to take a trip,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there really had not been much of a chance to conduct studies and expand a service in Western Europe,” he continues, “since respect for mushrooms had actually been all but completely eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries; and also I learned that Mexico still preserves a regard as well as recognition for the medicinal and dietary worth of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is greater than a five hour drive from the closest metropolitan facility. Accordingly, Mathieu eventually recognized that staying in Huautla, while holding a historic allure as well as being in a geographical area for dealing with mushrooms, would certainly prevent his efforts to expand a business and grow prevalent interest in learning about fungis. Mathieu ended up being cognizant of the blossoming reputation of Oaxaca’s ecotourism communities of the Sierra Norte, and without a doubt the Feria Regional de Hongos Silvestres (local wild mushroom event), held annually in Cuahimoloyas.
Mathieu satisfied Josefina Jiménez at the summer season weekend break mushroom event. Jiménez had transferred to Oaxaca from hometown Mexico City in 2002. Both common similar interests; Jiménez had actually examined agronomy, as well as for near a years had been working with sustainable agriculture projects in country farming neighborhoods in the Huasteca Potosina area of San Luis Potosí, the hills of Guerrero and also the coastline of Chiapas. Mathieu and Jiménez became company, and after that life partners in Benito Juárez.
Mathieu and also Jiménez are focusing on 3 mushroom varieties in their hands-on workshops; oyster (seta), shitake as well as reishi. Their one-day workshops are for oyster mushrooms, and also two-day facilities for the latter 2 types of fungus. “With reishi, as well as to a lower extent shitake, we’re also instructing a fair bit about the medicinal uses of mushrooms, so even more time is required,” claims Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s primarily [yet not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
While training seminars are now only given in Benito Juárez, Mathieu as well as Jiménez plan to broaden procedures to include both the central valleys and also seaside regions of Oaxaca. The item is to have a network of producers growing different mushrooms which are efficiently matched for cultivation based upon the particular microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and also therefore as a types, the flexibility of the oyster mushroom to various climatic regions is amazing. “The oyster can be grown in a wide range of different substrata, which’s what we’re experimenting with today,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can prosper when expanded on products which would certainly or else be waste, such as dispose of from cultivating beans, sugar walking cane, agave (including the fibrous waste produced in mezcal purification), peas, the common river reed called carriso, sawdust, and also the list takes place. Agricultural waste which might or else be delegated rot or be burned, each with adverse ecological effects, can form substrata for mushroom growing. It should be kept in mind, though commonplace, that mushroom cultivation is a highly lasting, green sector. Over the past a number of years Mexico has actually in truth gone to the fore in several areas of lasting sector.
Mathieu exhibits exactly how mushrooms can offer a perhaps even better ecological good:
” They can stand up to thirty thousand times their mass, having ramifications for inhibiting disintegration. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills with absorption as well as thus are a crucial car for habitat restoration. Study has actually been done with mushrooms in the battle versus woodworker ant devastation; it’s been suggested that making use of fungis has the prospective to entirely spruce up the chemical industry in an environmentally friendly way. There are essentially hundreds of other environmentally friendly applications for mushroom usage, and in each case the mushroom remains an edible by-product. Have a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Conserve The World.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can often be discovered marketing their items on weekend breaks in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re both more than happy to talk about the dietary value of their items which range from naturally their fresh mushrooms, but additionally as protects, marinated with either chipotle as well as nopal or jalapeño and also cauliflower. The mushroom’s vitamin B12 can not be discovered in fruits or veggies, and also as necessary a diet that includes fungis is exceptionally important for vegetarians that can not obtain B12, most often contained in meats. Mushrooms can easily be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not packed with antibiotics as well as hormones usually found in industrially processed meat items.