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Food Sunday: Huitlacoche Isn’t Popular In Wyoming, But Worth Trying (If You Can Find It)
Cowboy State Daily ^ | June 15, 2024 | Renée Jean

Posted on 06/17/2024 6:05:00 AM PDT by Red Badger

Granted, huitlacoche may look horrible. After all, it's a fungus that grows on corn. It's also known as Mexican truffles, corn mushrooms or “corn smut.” Wyoming chef Petrina Peart says the $50 per pound delicacy is hard to get but fun to try.

(Cowboy State Daily Staff)

Call them Mexican truffles, corn mushrooms or, if you’re a farmer, the much less appealing “corn smut.”

Whatever you call this funky-looking fungus that grows on ears of corn, huitlacoche (pronounced wheat-la-KOH-chay) is a delicious, prized ingredient across Mexico that’s been catching on with gourmet chefs around the world.

In Wyoming it’s much lesser known, though Cowboy State Daily did find one chef who not only knows about corn smut, but has actually used it in her cooking.

That’s Cheyenne chef Petrina Peart, who has made a name for herself across Wyoming and on the national culinary scene with her inventive vegetarian menus, not to mention her near upset win against chef Bobby Flay.

“The flavor profile is very earthy or umami,” Peart told Cowboy State Daily about why corn smut is so prized by people who know about it. “So, it gives off more of a mushroom flavor than it does a corn flavor. And then the texture, you can compare it to like a cooked, mushroom eggplant.”

Peart used the ingredient a couple of times for a pop-up when she lived in Vegas and was in culinary school. She didn’t have a fresh source for it at the time, something she still hopes to find one day soon.

“Physically, it’s eaten savory within, like, a quesadilla or maybe with queso fresco, Oaxaca cheese or something like that,” she said.

Other options she suggested would be in a taco, in a tempura or a fleur de courgette, a French delicacy made by stuffing the bright, trumpet yellow flowers of a squash variety called courgette.

The blossoms may be stuffed with a range of fillings, but seafood, such as crab meat, is common, along with soft cheeses like fresh ricotta, goat cheese or cotija.

“Something like that,” Peart said. “So, you have that kind of light and deep flavor kind of playing along.”

Huitlacoche works well in about anything where one might use a mushroom, Peart said.

Beef Wellington, for example, or other meat dishes, as well as ceviche, salsa or even as a topping for pulled pork.

Nutritional Value Also High

As an edible fungus with distinctive flavor, huitlacoche is prized by gourmands all over the world.

But health nuts might get a kick out of this food, too.

The wrinkled mushroom that takes over and replaces kernels of corn is rich in minerals like magnesium, phosphorus and calcium. It also has vitamins A, B9 and C.

It contains most of the essential amino acids, including lysine, glycine and leucine, as well as Omega 3 and 6 precursors, oleic and linoleic fatty acids.

It has unusually high protein for a mushroom, 4 grams in a 125-gram serving, making it the highest protein known for a shroom, and it packs in some fiber as well.

Some research has suggested the fungus has antioxidant properties that help maintain immunological health, and the National Institutes of Health paper on huitlacoche notes a number of bioactive compounds known to have medicinal properties.

These include coumarin-driven compounds that are anti-inflammatory, and purine-derived compounds that have been shown to have some action against drug-resistant human leukemia cells.

So far, no known toxic effects have been documented for this food, which has been in widespread use for centuries in Mexico.

But like any mushroom, it should probably be well-cooked rather than consumed raw. And allergies are possible, so it’s wise to eat small portions at first, just in case there are any sensitivities.

An Expensive Niche Crop A small jar of it from Amazon costs $26 and some change, and that’s before shipping.

The jar will take at least a couple weeks to arrive, too, so it’s not a wake up today and make it tonight type of thing.

Unless you can find it in a specialty market somewhere.

“Hispanic markets might have it,” Peart suggested.

She has not seen it on any of her shopping trips.

The times she found huitlacoche for sale were in a Vegas market, when she lived there. It was not a fresh product. It was jarred.

The ingredient can also be bought frozen, next-day air from freshwild.com for $45.90 a pound. The company claims its frozen huitlacoche is “just as tasty as the fresh product,” almost like going to Mexico to buy it from a farm stand. Other online stores list frozen corn smut at nearly $100 a pound.

There is one Wisconsin mushroom farmer who grows it for sale, Mike Jozwik, whose nickname is Mushroom Mike.

According to his website, it took him a decade of research to perfect a process that infects 90% or better of his corn so that he can sell huitlacoche as a fresh product from August through September.

But he doesn’t ship it.

So, to buy fresh huitlacoche, it would take a whirlwind trip to Wisconsin and back again. Or to Mexico, where it’s grown all over the country and sold fresh in any number of farmers markets.

Whether it would make it past customs, though, is questionable.

As an agricultural product, it would have to be declared, and federal laws prohibit bringing many agricultural products into the United States to prevent diseases from catching on in agricultural products. That’s likely to include a fungus that the USDA has probably spent millions trying to prevent.

Growing Huitlacoche In Wyoming Would Be A Challenge Ask an American corn farmer about corn truffles and you aren’t likely to hear anything good. They would more likely refer to it by its less-appealing nickname "corn smut." To them it’s trash, just like the name sounds.

The fact that American agriculture interests have spent millions of dollars to prevent corn smut would be the first challenge would-be Wyoming huitlacoche growers would face, according to Cheyenne Botanic Gardens horticulturist Jessica Friis.

“People wanting to try and grow corn truffles would want to look for early varieties that are not identified as resistant to corn smut,” she said. “Making small cuts on some of the corn kernels before they develop might make it more likely that the fungus will get established.”

Once the corn smut is growing on some of the corn, a slurry can be made from it that could then be used to inoculate — infect — more ears of corn.

Friis tasted huitlacoche when she was attending college in Utah, and said that it’s considered a delicacy in Mexico, where its cultivation is widespread.

“It’s hard to grow corn in Cheyenne, though,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “And I haven’t personally seen any (huitlacoche) here.”

Ditto Mushroom Man Dan Stewart with High Country Fungus. He doesn’t know of any mushroom growers trying their huitlacoche chances in Wyoming, and he’s never seen or heard of the product here.

Another difficulty to trying to grow huitlacoche in Wyoming is the state's short growing season for crops like corn.

Corn needs warm weather to even germinate at all, and it wants growing temperatures from 77 to 91 degrees in the daytime, and not below 62 at night. It would typically take two to three months for sweet corn to ripen under these conditions, or 90 to 120 days. Wyoming’s growing days range from as few as 20 at higher elevations to maybe 130 in the absolute best-case scenarios.

Friis recommended seeking out early varieties of corn, in addition to heirloom varieties that haven’t been bred to resist the pathogen that causes corn smut.

And, it’s probably not wise to mention to any of your farming neighbors that you’re trying to grow corn smut on purpose.

At least, not until after they have tasted something you’ve made with huitlacoche in it and pronounced it terribly delicious.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: amaizing; corn; cornmushrooms; cornsmut; dietandcuisine; fungus; fungusamongus; huitlacoche; maize; mexicantruffles
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1 posted on 06/17/2024 6:05:00 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; SunkenCiv

Corn Fungus Food!............YUMMMMY!...............


2 posted on 06/17/2024 6:05:44 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

I know I will pass, even if it promised to provide an amazing buzz. 🤣


3 posted on 06/17/2024 6:07:27 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Red Badger

I tried it in Baja. Meh. Over rated and over priced.

T be fair, actual truffles are over rated and over priced too.


4 posted on 06/17/2024 6:10:39 AM PDT by BBQToadRibs2
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To: BBQToadRibs2

Put enough CHOCOLATE OR GARLIC on something and it will taste good..............


5 posted on 06/17/2024 6:12:33 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Corn smut — it’s been eaten for a long, long time. :^)

Beats cicadas.


6 posted on 06/17/2024 6:14:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Red Badger

Ewww that is foul.


7 posted on 06/17/2024 6:14:48 AM PDT by dforest ( )
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To: SunkenCiv

If I asked a waitress for “Huitlacoche” she would probably slap me...................


8 posted on 06/17/2024 6:17:15 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Next up 9n the WHO recommended “must try” category, (ie you vill eat vat ve tell you), pond scum.


9 posted on 06/17/2024 6:17:45 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Bob434

Pond Scum would actually be nutritious...............


10 posted on 06/17/2024 6:18:26 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger
You will eat bugs CORN SMUT and like it.
11 posted on 06/17/2024 6:22:35 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent ~ Wm. Blake)
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To: Red Badger

I know a waitress who’ll say…. That’ll cost ya extra.


12 posted on 06/17/2024 6:25:01 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent ~ Wm. Blake)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Better leave a big tip.................


13 posted on 06/17/2024 6:26:53 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: dforest
Ewww that is foul.

So’s a lot of what humans eat and drink, once you get down to it.

This morning I think I’m going to mix some spoiled glandular secretions from the underside of a cow with the blended failed oocytes some hens expelled from their solid waste holes. (That is, I’m going to have some cheese in my scrambled eggs).

I’ve had huitlacoche; I rather like the flavor, but not so much the texture. *shrugs* at least it’s a food with a long history, and not the globalists trying to make people eat bugs to suit their own agenda.
14 posted on 06/17/2024 6:28:30 AM PDT by verum ago (I figure some people must truly be in love, for only love can be so blind.)
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To: verum ago

It is the look, not the description. I have tossed corn like this and I would still toss this. It looks like garbage.


15 posted on 06/17/2024 6:31:18 AM PDT by dforest ( )
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To: Red Badger

And don’t forget the house fee.


16 posted on 06/17/2024 6:37:04 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent ~ Wm. Blake)
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To: Red Badger

I’ll be sure to tell any pond scum drinkers how well they look then lol


17 posted on 06/17/2024 6:42:33 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: dforest
I have tossed corn like this and I would still toss this. It looks like garbage.

Agreed on both counts: it looks terrible, and yeah if I'm expected a regular ear of corn and see this, it's getting tossed 100% for me as well (only prudent; who's to say the fungus on your corn is an edible one without having been cultivated for human consumption..?)
18 posted on 06/17/2024 7:32:06 AM PDT by verum ago (I figure some people must truly be in love, for only love can be so blind.)
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To: Red Badger

“Corn Smut” still sounds better than “Corn Porn”.


19 posted on 06/17/2024 7:38:16 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("All he had was a handgun. Why did you think that was a threat?" --Rittenhouse Prosecutor)
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To: Red Badger

Thanks, RB. I just sent this to a friend who is a pro at hunting wild mushrooms and has taught classes. She’s a good cook.


20 posted on 06/17/2024 8:39:11 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“When exposing a crime is treated like a crime, you are being ruled by criminals” – Edward Snowden)
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