Body Girdles

When we believe of mushrooms and the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, the initially point which traditionally comes to mind is María Sabina, Huautla de Jiménez and hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms. But gradually that is all changing as a outcome of the groundbreaking operate of Josefina Jiménez and Johann Mathieu in mycology, through their business, Mico-lógica.

Based in the village of Benito Juárez, situated in Oaxaca’s Ixtlán district (more frequently identified as the Sierra Norte, the state’s primary ecotourism area), Mico-lógica’s mission is threefold: to train both Mexicans and guests to the nation in the low-cost cultivation of a selection of mushroom species to educate about the medicinal, nutritional and environmental (sustainable) worth of mushrooms and to conduct ongoing analysis 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 seems like a extended way to travel,” Mathieu explained in a recent interview in Oaxaca. “But there truly wasn’t much of an opportunity to conduct studies and grow a business in Western Europe,” he continues, “because reverence for mushrooms had been all but entirely eradicated by The Church over the course of centuries and I discovered 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 additional than a five hour drive from the closest metropolitan center. Accordingly, Mathieu at some point realized that staying in Huautla, though holding an historic allure and being in a geographic region conducive to operating with mushrooms, would hinder his efforts to grow a business enterprise and cultivate widespread interest in learning 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 operating 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 business, 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 uses of mushrooms, so much more time is essential,” says Mathieu, “and with oyster mushrooms it really is predominantly [but not exclusively] a course on cultivation.”

Whilst instruction seminars are now only offered in Benito Juárez, Mathieu and Jiménez strategy to expand operations to include both 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 certain microclimate. There are about 70 sub-species of oyster mushrooms, and therefore as a species, the adaptability of the oyster mushroom to different climatic regions is exceptional. “The oyster can be grown in a multitude of various substrata, and that’s what we’re experimenting with right 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 (including the fibrous waste made in mezcal distillation), peas, the frequent river reed known as carriso, sawdust, and the list goes on. Agricultural waste which may possibly otherwise be left to rot or be burned, every single with adverse environmental implications, can type substrata for mushroom cultivation. It ought to be noted, even though trite, that mushroom cultivation is a highly sustainable, green business. More than the previous various years Mexico has in fact been at the fore in several regions of sustainable sector.

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

“They can hold up to thirty thousand occasions their mass, obtaining implications for inhibiting erosion. They’ve been utilized to clean up oil spills by way of absorption and hence are an critical car for habitat restoration. Investigation has been performed with mushrooms in the battle against carpenter ant destruction it is been recommended that the use of fungi has the potential to fully revamp the pesticide market in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually hundreds of other eco-friendly applications for mushroom use, and in every single case the mushroom remains an edible by-solution. Take a look at the Paul Stamets YouTube lecture, 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The Planet.”

psilocybin chocolate bars and Jiménez can normally be found promoting their merchandise on weekends in the organic markets in Oaxaca. They’re each a lot more than satisfied to discuss 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 found in fruits or vegetables, and accordingly a diet plan which consists of fungi is exceptionally crucial for vegetarians who cannot get B12, most normally contained in meats. Mushrooms can very easily be a substitute for meats, with the advantage that they are not loaded with antibiotics and hormones often discovered in industrially processed meat items.