Word of the Day - Mexican Truffle : aka Corn Smut, aka Maize Mushroom, aka Cuitlacoche, aka Huitlacoche, aka Ustilago maydis - a parasitic disease of maize and teosinte. It usually enters the ovaries and replaces the normal kernels of the cobs with large distorted tumors analogous to mushrooms. The name Mexican Truffle was coined in an attempt to popularise it as a foodstuff for American consumers.


Another flashback - this time to the parasitic fungus of plants.



In Mexico it's considered a delicacy, even being preserved and sold for a higher price than corn. The galls are harvested while still immature — fully mature galls are dry and almost entirely spore-filled. The immature galls when cooked, have a flavor described as "mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy". Flavor compounds include sotolon and vanillin, as well as glucose. Here's some recipes.

The fungus has had difficulty entering into the American and European diets as most farmers see it as blight. Indeed the USDA went to great lengths to eradicate it. However, in the 1990s and due to demand created by high-end restaurants, Pennsylvania and Florida farms were allowed to intentionally infect corn with huitlacoche. The program had little effect.

Ustilago has other uses, too - the Zuni and other Amerindians of that area used it to induce labor. And it's easy-to-work-with genome allowed researchers to prove the function of the breast cancer gene BRCA2.

How did I find out about this fungus? Via Steve, Don't Eat It! a blog all about Steve and his experiments with revolting foodstuffs. I'll give you a hint about his opinion of huitlacoche - he didn't like it.