Gnome:
On Corn Smut or Huitlacoche.
We are back to mushrooms this issue and we will discuss a species which is commonly considered a pest of corn production but happens to be good to eat. In a way, I am trying to appeal to, not only the mycophiles among our readers but also to our Belizean corn growers who might find the diversification of growing a valuable product that could have appeal locally among the Mestizo population and also be exported to Central America and the United States, financially rewarding.
Ustilago maydis (Ustilaginaceae) has the distinction of being the organism that causes a highly prized edible delicacy and a much reviled disease. The fungus causes common corn smut, a disease which can result in economic losses wherever maize or corn is grown. Common smut is especially a problem in processing sweet corn, where the galls and spores can foul processing equipment and result in an unappetizing product. On the other hand, the very same galls, which reduce the income of sweet corn producers, are edible and can be a more profitable crop than the corn itself. Huitlacoche (cuitlacoche) is the Hispanicized version of the Nahuatl name for the edible galls, which has been consumed by the people of central Mexico since pre-Columbian times. Huitlacoche was also consumed by the Hidatsa people of the upper Missouri. During the rainy season, huitlacoche occurs naturally in maize fields of central Mexico where it is gathered by maize growers for sale in Mexico City and surrounding areas. The popularity of Huitlacoche is increasing rapidly in the US, due both to the increasing size of the Mexican-American community and an interest in new foods and fusion cooking, especially in high-end restaurants. US restaurants pay as much as US$50-80 per pound (these are 2007 figures) for frozen huitlacoche produced by specialty growers (most of the above is not from my own brain but hacked and slashed, get in touch with me if you want references). It would seem that the purposeful introduction and production of huitlacoche for export and/or local consumption might add another product that Belize can benefit from.
Huitlacoche occurs naturally in the right season in most corn fields but in order to be economically viable, it must be purposely raised to produce a profit. Remember, corn smut is a pest and as such, most farmers are trying to eradicate it, not grow it. There has been much research dedicated to its study; initially to help in its control and subsequently, once the economic considerations and growing popularity of this gourmet food were taken into account, to grow it. As a result, the technology and economic cost studies for the production of huitlacoche have been examined and are available to the interested farmer. Personally, I have not attempted it as a profit-making project but the small test trials to see if I could grow it myself (for yum-yum!) were successful. Theoretically at least, the Mestizo population, especially up North, might esteem it and since only 400-500 tons of it (2007 figures) are produced in Mexico, a nearby export market might exist.
It might help to go through the general process of producing corn smut (with little tit-bits from my own experience):
Before you can start you have to find some corn smut. This is relatively easy to accomplish, especially if you grow corn; at your next harvest, walk through your fields and look at the ears for something that looks like the photograph and that’s it. Personally, I walked through my “field” of 19 corn plants and found two ears with three or four galls on them. You then have to grow some corn, sweet corn is supposed to be better but the techniques are successful on dent corn too (Dent corn is naturally more resistant to corn smut, supposedly). You probably would want to grow a test patch of, say, 400 plants to get a good idea of how much work is involved and how good your yields were. The rest of the process involves growing the corn until six to eight days after the mid-silk growth stage, preparing an inoculation liquid from the collected corn smut, inoculating every ear through the silk channel, de-tassling every plant and harvesting the ears 16 to 17 days after inoculation. Personally, it took me about five hours to do all the labour involved from inoculation to harvesting and I though it was fun but then I really, really like mushrooms. My yields were consistent with the literature and the biggest ear I found, weighed almost a pound!
The Big Question: was it any good, after all the work? Well, I really like mushrooms (can’t you tell?) so I really, really liked the mushroominess and texture. You probably want to Google it if you want more varied opinions…it seems like most people either really like it, or they hate it…
Go forth and spread the spores!