When we think of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initial thing which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that’s all changing as a result of the groundbreaking perform of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by means of their firm, Mico-lógica.
Based in the village of Benito Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (far more normally recognized as the Sierra Norte, the state’s primary ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and visitors to the nation in the low-cost cultivation of a selection 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 fact 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 a lot of an opportunity to conduct research and grow a company in Western Europe,” he continues, “due to the fact reverence for mushrooms had been all but absolutely eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries and I discovered 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 much more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu ultimately realized that staying in Huautla, while holding an historic allure and becoming in a geographic region conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a business enterprise 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 business 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 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 uses of mushrooms, so far more time is essential,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Even though education seminars are now only given in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez program to expand operations to contain each the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers developing unique mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation primarily based on the distinct microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and therefore as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to various climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinct substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with ideal 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 (such as the fibrous waste made in mezcal distillation), peas, the popular river reed recognized as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each and every with adverse environmental implications, can kind substrata for mushroom cultivation. It need to be noted, even though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a extremely sustainable, green business. Over the past many years Mexico has in fact been at the fore in many places of sustainable market.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental superior:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand instances their mass, possessing implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and as a result are an significant vehicle for habitat restoration. Research has been accomplished with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been recommended that the use of fungi has the prospective to entirely revamp the pesticide sector in an environmentally friendly way. There are literally hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in every single case the mushroom remains an edible by-solution. Take a appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Methods Mushrooms Can Save The Globe.”
Magic mushrooms for sale and Jiménez can typically be discovered promoting their products on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are each more than delighted 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 located in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet plan which consists of fungi is very critical for vegetarians who can not get B12, most frequently contained in meats. Mushrooms can easily be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones frequently located in industrially processed meat goods.