When we assume of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the first issue 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 operate of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by means of their firm, Mico-lógica.

Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (far more normally identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s principal ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-expense cultivation of a wide variety of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth 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 appears like a extended way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a recent interview in Oaxaca. “But there actually wasn’t considerably of an opportunity to conduct studies and grow a business enterprise in Western Europe,” he continues, “because reverence for mushrooms had been all but totally eradicated by The Church more than the course of centuries and I learned 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 more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu eventually realized that staying in Huautla, whilst holding an historic allure and becoming in a geographic region conducive to working with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a small business and cultivate widespread interest in mastering about fungi. Mathieu became cognizant of the burgeoning reputation of Oaxaca’s ecotourism communities of the Sierra Norte, and certainly 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 related interests Jiménez had studied agronomy, and for close to a decade had been working 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 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 one-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 additional time is essential,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it’s predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”

Even though coaching seminars are now only provided in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez strategy to expand operations to contain each the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers expanding distinctive mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation based on the particular microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and thus as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to unique climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinctive substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with ideal now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on merchandise 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 known as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which might otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each with adverse environmental implications, can kind substrata for mushroom cultivation. It must be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a extremely sustainable, green market. Over Mushrooms chocolate bar quite a few years Mexico has in reality been at the fore in many places of sustainable market.

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

“They can hold up to thirty thousand times their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilised to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and therefore are an crucial car for habitat restoration. Research 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 industry in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in each and every case the mushroom remains an edible by-product. Take a appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Techniques Mushrooms Can Save The Globe.”

Mathieu and Jiménez can generally be discovered selling their products on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re each much more than delighted to go over the nutritional worth of their merchandise 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’t be discovered in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet which consists of fungi is really essential for vegetarians who can not get B12, most normally contained in meats. Mushrooms can conveniently be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones frequently discovered in industrially processed meat items.