When we assume of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initially thing which traditionally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But gradually that’s all changing as a outcome of the groundbreaking operate of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by means of their firm, Mico-lógica.
Based in the village of Benito Juárez, located in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (extra typically identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s key ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and guests to the country in the low-price cultivation of a assortment of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing study relating to 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 extended way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there truly wasn’t significantly of an opportunity to conduct studies and grow a company in Western Europe,” he continues, “considering that reverence for mushrooms had been all but absolutely eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries and I learned that Mexico still maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional value of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is far more than a five hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu sooner or later realized that staying in Huautla, although 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 area of San Luis Potosí, the mountains of Guerrero and the coast of Chiapas. Mathieu and Jiménez became business, 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 a single-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 more time is needed,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Even though training seminars are now only given in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez plan to expand operations to incorporate each 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 primarily based on the specific microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and thus as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to various climatic regions is outstanding. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinct substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with appropriate 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 (like the fibrous waste made in mezcal distillation), peas, the popular river reed recognized as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Mushrooms chocolate bar which could otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each and every with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It ought to be noted, even though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a highly sustainable, green sector. Over the past many years Mexico has in fact been at the fore in quite a few regions of sustainable sector.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even greater environmental superior:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand times their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been employed to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and thus are an vital automobile for habitat restoration. Study has been performed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been suggested that the use of fungi has the potential to absolutely revamp the pesticide business 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 Approaches Mushrooms Can Save The World.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can normally be found selling their merchandise on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re each much more than satisfied to talk about the nutritional value of their solutions 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 cannot be located in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet which contains fungi is really crucial for vegetarians who can not get B12, most usually contained in meats. Mushrooms can simply be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones generally discovered in industrially processed meat solutions.
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