Background:

The species included in Scleroderma have a worldwide distribution and are ectomycorrhizal, the genus has been recorded as toxic, although antiinflammatory and hemostatic properties have been attributed to some species. In Mexico there are 14 species, one of them, Scleroderma laeve has been recorded as edible from Hueyapan in Morelos State.

Objective:

To record the edible use of Scleroderma texense, as well as to explain how this mushroom is cooked by the Zapotecs from Santiago Xochiltepec, Santiago Textitlán, Oaxaca.

Methods:

The information was documented through informal and semistructured interviews applied by high school students from Bachillerato Integral Comunitario N° 9 as a research project about mushrooms. The specimens were studied with the techniques used in Mycology.

Results and conclusions:

Scleroderma texense is recorded for the first time as an edible species by the Zapotecs from Santiago Xochiltepec in the Southern Sierra of the State of Oaxaca. In this town it receives the name of “duck egg”, “turkey egg” or “guitar”. This record contributes to the knowledge about the uses of mushrooms by the ethnic groups in Oaxaca.

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