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Author Topic: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut  (Read 4270 times)

Offline The15thMember

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Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« on: August 06, 2022, 05:26:23 pm »
We managed to grow a couple ears of sweet corn this year, and we picked them earlier in the week.  One of them was . . . unique looking to say the least.  :grin:  Anyone ever seen this in their corn before?


We did some looking online about it and it's apparently called corn smut.  It's a fungus which infects the kernels of the corn and basically takes them over, turning them into mushroom-like galls that produce spores.  This fungus is completely edible and is very popular in Mexico, where it's been eaten since Aztec times.  They call it Huitlacoche, and in English it's called Mexican truffle in food circles, since "corn smut" isn't very appetizing.  :cheesy:  We pulled the galls off the cob and sauteed them in a little butter and salt, and honestly it was pretty good.  Some of our galls were a little too old and were mostly black inside with spores, which tasted bitter, but the young white ones had a nice flavor, sort of part mushroom, part corn.
   
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Offline Bill Murray

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2022, 07:05:34 pm »
Interesting. May need this advice by next autumn the way things are headed. But honestly I would have to be pretty hungry.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2022, 08:07:41 pm »
Quote from: Bill Murray on August 06, 2022, 07:05:34 pm
Interesting. May need this advice by next autumn the way things are headed. But honestly I would have to be pretty hungry.
You know, that's exactly what my dad said.  He wouldn't even try it, and I just don't understand why you or he is freaked out by it.  You eat mushrooms, don't you?  So this is just a mushroom that grows on corn, that's all. 
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2022, 07:55:09 am »
Back before fungicides got popular we used to see it all the time.  We just threw it away.  Never tried to eat it.
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2022, 12:38:52 pm »
If you close your eyes... :cheesy:
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2022, 08:15:11 am »
Quote from: The15thMember on August 06, 2022, 08:07:41 pm
  So this is just a mushroom that grows on corn, that's all.
Some mushrooms are poison.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2022, 11:18:32 am »
Quote from: Acebird on August 18, 2022, 08:15:11 am
Some mushrooms are poison.
Some mushrooms are not poison.
 

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Offline Occam

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2024, 01:49:38 pm »
Old thread I just happened to come across. Huitlacoche is pretty delicious. I spent my teenage years growing up in Mexico. Learned to love all kinds of food I wouldn't have likely come across in New England. I ate huitlacoche whenever I was somewhere it was available
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Online Terri Yaki

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Re: Huitlacoche/Corn Smut
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2024, 04:35:18 pm »
I've had my bouts with that stuff and I'd say that you're pretty brave to eat it, even though I have read that when harvested at the right time it is supposed to be good. I do eat mushrooms though, so if someone else went first, I might give them a try.
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