When we consider of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the very 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 work of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, by way of their firm, Mico-lógica.

Based in the village of Benito Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (extra usually known as the Sierra Norte, the state’s primary ecotourism region), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train each Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-expense cultivation of a assortment of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth 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 fact 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 really wasn’t substantially of an chance to conduct research and develop a small business in Western Europe,” he continues, “because reverence for mushrooms had been all but completely eradicated by The Church more than the course of centuries and I discovered that Mexico nonetheless maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional worth of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”

Huautla de Jiménez is additional than a five hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu eventually realized that staying in Huautla, while holding an historic allure and becoming in a geographic area conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a small business and cultivate widespread interest in learning about fungi. polka dot mushroom chocolate 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 occasion. 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 organization, 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 far more time is essential,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it really is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”

Whilst education seminars are now only provided in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez plan to expand operations to involve each the central valleys and coastal regions of Oaxaca. The object is to have a network of producers growing distinctive mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation based on the certain microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and hence as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to distinctive climatic regions is remarkable. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of various 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 (including the fibrous waste made in mezcal distillation), peas, the common river reed identified as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which might otherwise be left to rot or be burned, each and every with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It need to be noted, although trite, that mushroom cultivation is a hugely sustainable, green industry. Over the past various years Mexico has in fact been at the fore in many locations of sustainable business.


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

“They can hold up to thirty thousand occasions their mass, getting implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilised to clean up oil spills via absorption and as a result are an critical vehicle for habitat restoration. Analysis has been carried out with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it really is been recommended that the use of fungi has the possible to fully revamp the pesticide sector in an environmentally friendly way. There are literally hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in each case the mushroom remains an edible by-product. Take a appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Approaches Mushrooms Can Save The Globe.”

Mathieu and Jiménez can normally be located selling their products on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re each far more than happy to talk about the nutritional value of their products 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 cannot be located in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet regime which contains fungi is really significant for vegetarians who can’t get B12, most normally 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.