When we believe of mushrooms and the southern Mexico point out of Oaxaca, the initial factor which historically comes to brain is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly which is all shifting as a consequence of the groundbreaking perform of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by means of their business, Mico-lógica.

morel mushrooms Based mostly in the village of Benito Juárez, found in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (more commonly acknowledged as the Sierra Norte, the state’s main ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to practice the two Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-value cultivation of a selection of mushroom species to teach about the medicinal, dietary and environmental (sustainable) worth of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing research relating to ideal climatic areas and the diversity of substrata for mushroom tradition.

The French-born Mathieu moved to Mexico, and in simple fact to Huautla de Jiménez, in 2005. “Of course, coming all the way to Mexico from France to pursue my desire in mushrooms would seem like a long way to journey,” Mathieu discussed in a recent interview in Oaxaca. “But there actually was not considerably of an chance to carry out research and grow a business in Western Europe,” he proceeds, “considering that reverence for mushrooms experienced been all but fully eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries and I uncovered that Mexico nonetheless maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and dietary worth of hongos. Mexico is considerably from mycophobic.”

Huautla de Jiménez is more than a five hour generate from the closest metropolitan heart. Accordingly, Mathieu sooner or later recognized that keeping in Huautla, while holding an historic attract and becoming in a geographic location conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his initiatives to expand a organization and cultivate common desire in studying about fungi. Mathieu became cognizant of the burgeoning status of Oaxaca’s ecotourism communities of the Sierra Norte, and indeed the Feria Regional de Hongos Silvestres (regional wild mushroom competition), held annually in Cuahimoloyas.

Mathieu satisfied Josefina Jiménez at the summertime weekend mushroom event. Jiménez had moved to Oaxaca from hometown Mexico Metropolis in 2002. The two shared similar passions Jiménez had researched agronomy, and for close to a ten years 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 turned enterprise, and then daily life associates in Benito Juárez.

Mathieu and Jiménez are concentrating on three mushroom species in their fingers-on seminars oyster (seta), shitake and reishi. Their one particular-day workshops are for oyster mushrooms, and two-working day clinics for the latter two species of fungus. “With reishi, and to a lesser extent shitake, we’re also educating a truthful bit about the medicinal employs of mushrooms, so more time is necessary,” suggests Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it is predominantly [but not exclusively] a program on cultivation.”

Although coaching seminars are now only offered in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez prepare to expand operations to include equally the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The item is to have a community of producers growing diverse mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation based on the distinct microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and hence as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to diverse climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be developed in a multitude of various substrata, and which is what we are experimenting with right now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can prosper when developed on goods which would in any other case be waste, this kind of as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (including the fibrous squander developed in mezcal distillation), peas, the common river reed known as carriso, sawdust, and the checklist goes on. Agricultural waste which may possibly or else be remaining to rot or be burned, every single with adverse environmental implications, can sort substrata for mushroom cultivation. It need to be noted, however trite, that mushroom cultivation is a very sustainable, eco-friendly market. Over the earlier several a long time Mexico has in fact been at the fore in numerous areas of sustainable industry.

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

“They can maintain up to 30 thousand moments their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They have been employed to thoroughly clean up oil spills via absorption and therefore are an critical motor vehicle for habitat restoration. Investigation has been completed with mushrooms in the battle from carpenter ant destruction it is been proposed that the use of fungi has the possible to entirely revamp the pesticide market in an environmentally friendly way. There are practically hundreds of other eco-welcoming applications for mushroom use, and in every single case the mushroom stays an edible by-item. Just take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Methods Mushrooms Can Conserve The Planet.”

Mathieu and Jiménez can frequently be discovered selling their products on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re equally more than pleased to discuss the nutritional value of their items which assortment from normally their clean mushrooms, but also as preserves, marinated with possibly chipotle and nopal or jalapeño and cauliflower. The mushroom’s vitamin B12 can’t be discovered in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet plan which includes fungi is incredibly crucial for vegetarians who are not able to get B12, most typically contained in meats. Mushrooms can simply be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones often discovered in industrially processed meat merchandise.

Mico-lógica also market teas and extracts made from distinct mushroom species, each formulated as possibly a dietary health supplement, or for their medicinal qualities. Even though neither Mathieu nor Jiménez has the pharmacological history to prescribe mycological therapy for significant ailments, Mathieu’s personal study factors to the medicinal use of mushrooms courting from pre-history, to the existing. He notes houses of mushrooms which can support to restore the immune system, and hence the use of fungi as a complement in the treatment method of cancer and AIDS, and their utility in managing diabetic issues and treating large cholesterol.

“We need to all be embracing the natural and organic creation of mushrooms,” Mathieu concludes. “It really is so straightforward, it entails a minimal money expense, and it offers substantial rewards, equally for those ingesting hongos for dietary and medicinal reasons, and for the producers, even modest scale. Mico-lógica also sells dried mushrooms. But most of the dried mushrooms offered in Mexico are imported from China, and are not organic and natural. It truly is a true shame on many stages.”