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We had Corn Smut in Illinois but I never see it in TN. I never knew it could be eaten.

Watch the video.

I had some growing on corn once or twice. I didn’t have the courage to try eating it.

ETA.... oh look - I lied... or at least didn’t remember — I WAS motivated to check because I was *thinking* smut “smells“ like mushrooms.
Subject: First Glass Gem Corn Harvest

applestar wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:17 pm

As for smut, I have had some of my corn develop smut before. First time, I was grossed out and tossed it out, but l have been slowly tending towards being adventurous about this, and last year, tried eating one in an omelet. Smut tastes like best kind of mushrooms.

Corn smut is a delicacy in Mexico known as Huitlacoche. It is a soft and spreadable fungus that grows on the ears of corn . Supposedly it is mushroomlike and is used as a filler on tacos, etc.

I'd never heard of huitlacoche! By the spelling I'm pretty sure it's pronounced weet-la-ko-che

There's a great article on it over on NPR Scourge No More: Chefs Invite Corn Fungus To The Plate. Farmers in North Carolina and in Canada are deliberately growing this now because there's growing demand for huitlacoche.

"It's insanely delicious and luxurious, like black truffles."

"It may have been ambrosia of the Aztec gods with an inky, mushroomy flavor that is almost impossible to describe," wrote Diana Kennedy, the "Julia Child of Mexico," in her 1986 book The Cuisines of Mexico.

"We eat lots of foods like this that don't look palatable, like mussels or bleu cheese. You just have to have the right mindset to eat it."

...huitlacoche tastes like nothing you've ever had. It's a treasure."

I have heard of it but did not try it. I guess it is an acquired taste.

I haven't had huitlacoche for years, but I used to get it at a Mexican grocery, when I made trips through Avondale. And one of the mushroom stores in Kennett Square had it a couple of times - I think they must have grown it in their "lab conditions", like they grow other fungi. It is delicious, and I actually tried growing it one time - the only time I've grown corn - but the fresh huitlacoche I guess doesn't have the type of spores needed to inoculate the corn, or I didn't do it right (this was well before the internet was available, with all that info!). Fortunately, the price has come down, as supply has increased, due to increased demand.

that’s right. when it’s edible it’s real young and hasn’t sporulated yet. the ‘ripe’ (as in able to reproduce) huitlecoche is not so pleasant for eating!