When we feel of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the very first point which traditionally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But gradually that is all altering as a result of the groundbreaking perform of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, via their enterprise, Mico-lógica.

Based in the village of Benito Juárez, located in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (far more frequently known as the Sierra Norte, the state’s major ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-cost cultivation of a assortment of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing investigation regarding optimum climatic regions and the diversity of substrata for mushroom culture.

The French-born Mathieu moved to Mexico, and in truth 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 current interview in Oaxaca. “But there seriously wasn’t a great deal of an opportunity to conduct studies and develop a organization 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 discovered that Mexico nonetheless maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional value of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”

Huautla de Jiménez is a lot more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu eventually realized that staying in Huautla, although holding an historic allure and being in a geographic area conducive to working with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a small business 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 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 operating 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. umami mushroom seasoning and Jiménez became 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 one particular-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 makes use of of mushrooms, so much more time is required,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”

When instruction seminars are now only given 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 unique mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation based on the unique microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and thus as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to distinct climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of different substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with suitable now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on items which would otherwise be waste, such as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (which includes the fibrous waste produced in mezcal distillation), peas, the frequent river reed recognized as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may possibly otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It should be noted, even though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a highly sustainable, green sector. Over the past several years Mexico has in truth been at the fore in a lot of areas of sustainable sector.

Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental great:

“They can hold up to thirty thousand times their mass, possessing implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been used to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and therefore are an significant automobile for habitat restoration. Study has been carried out with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been recommended that the use of fungi has the possible to entirely revamp the pesticide industry in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in each case the mushroom remains an edible by-item. Take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Methods Mushrooms Can Save The Planet.”

Mathieu and Jiménez can frequently be located promoting their items on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are both extra than happy to discuss the nutritional worth of their merchandise 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 located in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a eating plan which involves fungi is extremely essential for vegetarians who can not get B12, most typically contained in meats. Mushrooms can quickly be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones frequently located in industrially processed meat items.