Edible fungi for local development in the Patagonian Andes of Argentina

BARROETAVEÑA CAROLINA; PILDAIN MARÍA BELÉN

Forest Systems

Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)

Año: 2022 vol. 31

Wild fungi are one of the most characteristic and diverse non-wood forest products from native and planted forest environments and grasslands in the Patagonian Andes. Through Patagonia Fungi, senderos y sabores ®, we work to promote mycotourism and mycogastronomy as sustainable, identitary and inclusive economic and educational activities that promote local development, taking advantage of the outstanding regional tourist profile. We also work on the development of functional foods and promote the cultivation of edible and medicinal fungi. This research objectives is to define edible species, evaluate them for exploitation; environmental characterizations of their fruiting niches and "mycosilvicultural" managements to increase their productivity; protocols for the domestication of wild cultivable species; economic aspects related to the marketing and use in local gastronomy; registration and analysis of the ancestral uses and the processes of change in their uses; determination of the nutritional, chemical and antioxidant activity profile; studies of molecular genetic diversity of various genera; evaluation and selection of lignocellulosic substrates from available residues in Patagonian Andes; evaluation of postharvest preservation techniques. Most relevant actions include the design and implementation of mycotourism trails, the promotion of an identity mycogastronomy; the inter-institutional management of protocols for good harvesting and food safety practices; the incorporation of 19 new species in the Argentinean Food Code. We work also for food sovereignty through a spawn production laboratory fostering edible and medicinal fungi cultivation through courses and assistance to producers from family to productive scales.