Mico-Logica Alters Our Perception of the Magic of Mushrooms in Oaxaca, Mexico
When we think of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the very first point which traditionally comes to thoughts is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But gradually that is all altering as a outcome of the groundbreaking perform of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, through their corporation, Mico-lógica.
Primarily based in the village of Benito Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (a lot more usually known as the Sierra Norte, the state’s principal ecotourism area), 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) value of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing study with regards 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 lengthy way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a current interview in Oaxaca. “But there truly wasn’t considerably of an chance to conduct studies and grow a organization 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 nonetheless maintains a respect and appreciation for the medicinal and nutritional value of hongos. Mexico is far from mycophobic.”
Huautla de Jiménez is a lot more than a 5 hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu sooner or later realized that staying in Huautla, though holding an historic allure and getting in a geographic region conducive to working with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to develop a enterprise and cultivate widespread interest in finding out 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 working 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 makes use of of mushrooms, so much more time is needed,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”
Though instruction 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 expanding distinct mushrooms which are optimally suited for cultivation primarily based on the unique microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and as a result as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to unique climatic regions is outstanding. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of distinctive substrata, and that is what we’re experimenting with proper now,” he elucidates. The oyster mushroom can thrive when grown on products which would otherwise be waste, such as discard from cultivating beans, sugar cane, agave (including the fibrous waste created in mezcal distillation), peas, the frequent river reed known as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may well otherwise be left to rot or be burned, every with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It should be noted, though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a hugely sustainable, green sector. More than the past numerous years Mexico has in fact been at the fore in lots of areas of sustainable business.
Mathieu exemplifies how mushrooms can serve an arguably even higher environmental superior:
“They can hold up to thirty thousand occasions their mass, getting implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills by means of absorption and hence are an vital vehicle for habitat restoration. Analysis has been done with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been suggested that the use of fungi has the possible to absolutely revamp the pesticide market 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 buy psilocybin cheap appear at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Strategies Mushrooms Can Save The Planet.”
Mathieu and Jiménez can often be discovered selling their items on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They are both a lot more than happy to talk about the nutritional value of their items 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 found in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet plan which contains fungi is exceptionally crucial for vegetarians who cannot get B12, most usually contained in meats. Mushrooms can easily be a substitute for meats, with the benefit that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones often discovered in industrially processed meat products.