When we consider of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initial factor which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But slowly that is all changing as a result of the groundbreaking work of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, through their company, Mico-lógica.

Based in the village of Benito Juárez, located in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (additional normally recognized as the Sierra Norte, the state’s key ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and guests to the country in the low-cost cultivation of a assortment of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing research with regards 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 seems like a lengthy way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there actually wasn’t substantially of an opportunity to conduct research and grow a small business in Western Europe,” he continues, “because reverence for mushrooms had been all but entirely eradicated by The Church more than 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 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 getting in a geographic area conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a small business 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 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 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 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 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 uses of mushrooms, so far more time is essential,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it really is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”

When coaching seminars are now only offered 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 developing different mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation primarily based on the specific microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and therefore as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to unique climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinct substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with correct 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 (such as the fibrous waste produced in mezcal distillation), peas, the widespread river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. golden ticket mushroom bar which may well otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each with adverse environmental implications, can kind substrata for mushroom cultivation. It need to be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a hugely sustainable, green business. More than the past several years Mexico has in reality been at the fore in several places of sustainable sector.

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

“They can hold up to thirty thousand instances their mass, possessing implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been made use of to clean up oil spills through absorption and thus are an essential car for habitat restoration. Research has been performed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it’s been suggested that the use of fungi has the possible to totally revamp the pesticide market 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-product. Take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, six Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World.”

Mathieu and Jiménez can often be discovered selling their goods on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are both much more than pleased to talk about the nutritional value of their goods 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 eating plan which consists of fungi is extremely vital for vegetarians who can’t get B12, most generally contained in meats. Mushrooms can simply be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones often located in industrially processed meat solutions.