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Posted on 04/26/2010 3:44:42 PM PDT by JoeProBono
IRAPUATO, Mexico (AP) -- It's now an established scientific fact: Smut is GOOD for you. Corn smut, that is.
For years, scientists have assumed that huitlacoche (WEET-LA-KO-CHEE) - a gnarly, gray-black corn fungus long-savored in Mexico - had nutritional values similar to those of the corn on which it grew. But test results just published in the journal Food Chemistry reveal that an infection that U.S. farmers and crop scientists have spent millions trying to eradicate, is packed with unique proteins, minerals and other nutritional goodies.
And here's a bonus: agro-economists have found it can sell for more than the corn it ruins.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Ah...apparently you want to focus on high quality smut because when I was in college, we were told that corn smut caused spontaneous abortion in cattle and some varieties (ergot) were believed to have contributed hallucinogenic properties that may have resulted in individuals acting in a bizarre manner which caused others to accuse them of witchcraft, or demon possession and burn them at the stake etc.
Ever wonder what’s the nasty black stuff you scrape off the floor under Mexican’s refrigerators? “It’s a delicacy!”
Eating this stuff may explain the disappearance of the Aztec civilization.
Lunch break for a viking kitty?
Yeah, like escargot is an epicurean delight. To me it's like erasers cooked in garlic.
Not as well as Cortez and smallpox.
I think I’ll pass on this one.
Two years ago, we had a lot of rain at the wrong time and we got smut on the corn. I was going to burn the patch, but then, weather turned warm and dry and it just dried up and blew away. I was terrified it would infect the ground, but last year was fine, with no smut.
In Mexico, they deliberately infect fields in order to get the smut. I did read up on it and the *mouth feel* was described as gross, so I passed.
Has anyone here ever eaten it, either fresh or canned?
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