Picture this, you’ve just gotten back from the farmer’s market with a batch of sweet corn, fresh from the field. You go to shuck an ear, and gasp in horror when you discover it is covered in large gray and black masses. But wait! Don’t toss the corn in the garbage and call the farmer; you’ve been gifted a delicacy: Huitlacoche!
Also called corn smut, Huitlacoche comes from a fungus that parasitizes young ears of corn through the silks. Once infected, commonly known as Ustilago maydis, causes the corn to develop what are essentially tumors that scientist call “galls.” These galls, which look like some monstrous, Lovecraftian creature, can range in size from a small swelling to a foot in diameter!
Despite their look, the galls are actually delicious, tasting, earthy, musty, and smoky in a way that mixes truffle and corn. The Aztecs were the first group to intentionally cultivate corn smut by scoring corn with knives covered in soil, inoculating the ears with the spores that lay dormant in the dirt. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, however, they were disgusted.
The first written description of corn smut comes from a Spanish missionary, Bernardino Sahagun, who wrote in 1575 about how corn smut threatened the Spanish production of corn throughout their conquered territory. For nearly 500 years, this European bias persisted in most of the world outside Mexico. The smut survives though, even as corn farmers have tried to eradicate it by relying on toxic chemical sprays. Because of its persistence, it might be time to take a lesson from the Aztecs and learn to love the tasty fungus.
A special thanks goes to Joe Spraker, Univerisity of Wisconsin, for reviewing today's episode.
Learn more
- Keeping sweet corn sweet
- Sweet Corn's Not-So-Sweet Rewards
- Corn And Beans Grow Well Together... Why?
Sources
Insights from the genome of the biotrophic fungal plant pathogen Ustilago maydis
