Edible mushrooms management in Mexico: a tradition that transcends into the future

Abstract

Mexico has a mycocultural heritage that is expressed in a historical tradition of consumption of edible mushrooms as part of a diversified strategy of comprehensive use of resources. This chapter presents an overview of the use of edible mushrooms in Mexico, both wild and cultivated, from its historical roots to the present. Although there is no evidence to show when this activity began, some vestiges indicate that the consumption of wild mushrooms was daily since pre-Hispanic times and that it continued during the colonial period and independent Mexico. On the other hand, knowledge about mushroom cultivation in Mexico is much more recent. Today, 425 wild mushrooms consumed in Mexico have been counted. The use of these species is not homogeneous throughout the country, especially there is a marked difference between the species used in temperate zones and those that are typical of tropical zones. On the other hand, the production of cultivated edible mushrooms has begun to diversify in recent years in Mexico. The commercialization of wild mushrooms is considered an economic activity that allows rural people from different regions of Mexico to obtain monetary benefits at different scales. In the case of cultivated mushrooms, when leaving the production unit, the harvested mushrooms are distributed in different ways, either by direct sale in the producer's module, taken to the local market, channeled through supply centers or the supermarket chains of the country. The use of wild edible mushrooms in Mexico is an activity that, although it has been carried out since ancient times and in a good part of the country, in regulatory terms it can be classified as informal.