Question during lecture leads to publication on biodiversity of edible mushrooms in São Paulo.

01/15/2018 Tim Vincent

Researchers from PPBio-CENBAM, Dr. Noemia Kazue Ishikawa and Dr. Ruby Vargas Isla, with the collaboration of Dr. Nelson Menolli Junior of the Federal Institute of São Paulo and Dr. Daniel Gomes of the São Paulo Agribusiness Technology Agency list 12 species of mushrooms native to the State of São Paulo.

The study was conducted in response to the question asked of a fungi cultivator of the Region of Sorocaba; "Are there edible mushrooms in São Paulo?" during a lecture presented by Dr. Noemia and Chef Felipe Schaedler on June 22, 2017 at the Yuri Cogumelos Company.

The lecture presented the following topics: the biodiversity of edible mushrooms of the Amazon; experiments with the cultivation of the species Lentinula raphanica; and the work in partnership with the Instituto Socioambiental and Instituto Atá in the development of a marketing chain of mushrooms collected by the Yanomami. At the close of the lecture, Chef Felipe served a Mujeca of Yanomami mushrooms served at the Moquém do Banzeiro Restaurant in Manaus.

When carrying out a bibliographic survey on the species with known comestibility and with previously reported occurrences for the State of São Paulo, the researchers were surprised by the number of species and the time that these had already been reported in the region. For example, Agaricus campestris and Pleurotus albidus, belonging to the genres of Champignon and Shimeji respectively, have been reported in the state of São Paulo since 1889.

The article also addresses data on the main mushrooms grown in the State of São Paulo, which concentrates the largest number of mushroom producers in the country. However, all species cultivated to date are of European and Asian origin. In this article were listed only the native species of the same genera that are already grown in the State.

The publication can be accessed at: “Principais cogumelos comestíveis cultivados e nativos do estado de São Paulo”

Foto: Flavia M. Kubokawa Scholtens

Figure 1: Fungus cultivators from the Sorocaba Region, SP, and the owners of the Yuri Mushrooms Company who participated in the lecture entitled "Edible Mushrooms of the Amazon: from the forest to the table" held on June 22, 2017.