You're really gonna eat that?

First, an apology.  I started this blog with the intention of making regular contributions... but I realize I haven't posted for nigh on two months now.  I've got a couple good posts I want to do in the next week or so, but then you likely won't hear from me for most of November, because I've gone off the rails and decided to do Nanowrimo this year in the hopes that it'll kick-start my creative engine... or something.

Stick around, though... this one's pretty interesting.

---

As some of you may know, I've been growing a larger-than-previously-attempted three sisters (more info) garden this year.  I grew Boston Marrow squash, Oaxaca Green Dent corn, and two varieties of beans, Cherokee Trail and October.  

I harvested the Boston Marrow (23 of them) about a two weeks ago.  Judging by the catalog description, I expected 10-20 lb fruits... I have to wonder if the bees brought in some hubbard pollen from somewhere, though, as the smallest of them likely tops 20 lbs, while the largest weighs in at just over 45 lbs!

The beans didn't really flourish this year, I suspect because I planted the squash a couple weeks before them (we had a frost on the first of June this year) and the squash shaded them early on.

I've been bringing in my corn over the last week or so as it dries.  And it's the corn, more or less, with which this post is concerned...

As I was doing research a year-and-a-half ago in preparation for this project, one of the little side trails I wound up exploring was about something called huitlacoche (don't you just love wikipedia for that?  You go to look up something normal, like the capital of Wales or whatever, and suddenly you look around and its four hours later and you're reading up on Kevin Bacon's second cousin or something).  Apparently, in the US, it's considered a nuisance, called "corn smut", and farmers work to eradicated it by any means possible, while in Latin America, they treat it as a delicacy.  Apparently, it's also quite nutritious, making a wider variety of nutrients available than the corn can by itself, among other things.  At the time, I simply found the subject mildly interesting in an "I'd-like-to-try-that-someday" way.  I grew up with parents who grew a garden that most often included sweet corn, and so I assumed it was something rare.  Imagine my surprise when I found first one, and then several examples of it on my corn!

I never got around to trying it because I wasn't at all sure how to prepare it.  Some of the things I'd read indicated that the immature galls were preferable because they were more tender and mildly-flavored.  The only samples I seemed to be able to find already had powdery black spores spilling out of them.  So today, when I was picking some of the last few ears in the garden, I ran across a small ear that looked newly infected.  The galls were small and still very fleshy.  As near as I understand it, the fungus can create tumors on any part of the plant, but the ones from an infected ear are preferable, and the fungus infects and takes over the developing kernels.  So, I decided to give it a shot.  My wife wasn't home at the time...

Most of the recipes I found called for half a kilo, but I only had about a cup, maybe a quarter pound, so I figured I'd have to improvise.  The most likely-looking recipe was a simple sauté starting with butter, onion, and garlic.  Here's what I wound up doing:

---

Basic Huitlacoche Quesadilla (serves 1)

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 c. huitlacoche, roughly chopped

1/2 sm onion, finely chopped (~1/2 c)

2 sm cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper

1/4 c. shredded cheese, half cheddar, half mozzarella

2 flour tortillas

1.  Heat frying pan/skillet over medium heat, melt butter, add onions and garlic.  Heat until garlic is fragrant, add huitlacoche.  Cook until huitlacoche becomes tender and releases black juices (the pan contents start to look like everything's been doused with used motor oil).  Remove from heat.

2.  Heat a second pan over medium.  Lightly toast a tortilla on one side, remove and place other tortilla in pan.  Spread huitlacoche mixture on toasted side of tortilla.  Sprinkle with cheese.  When second tortilla is lightly toasted, place toasted side down on top of cheese.  Set entire quesadilla in pan and heat until cheese melts, turning so that both sides are lightly toasted and crisp.

I had mixed feelings about the results.  Overall, I'd say it was a moderate improvement on a plain quesadilla.  I like plain quesadillas.  On the other hand, while I quite liked the flavor of the huitlacoche (it was very mild, earthy, slightly sweet and toasty, maybe just a touch like corn, worth every bit of effort to obtain and prepare it), I could barely taste it over the flavors of the onions and garlic.  So next time, either I need a lot more huitlacoche (plus, that lets me make more...) or a lot less onion and garlic.

I'm thinking more like the 1/2 kilo (about a pound) the other recipes suggested, maybe even use some more mature galls to get a stronger flavor, but keep the amounts of onion and garlic the same.  I'd be tempted to fool around with a little oregano or cilantro, but I'd hate to mess with that flavor. Maybe some sour cream or salsa to dip...

So something more like this:

Adjusted Huitlacoche Quesadilla (serves 3-4)

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

3 c. huitlacoche, roughly chopped (~ 1 lb)

1/2 sm onion, finely chopped (~1/2 c)

2 sm cloves garlic, minced

salt & black pepper

2 c. shredded cheese, half cheddar, half mozzarella

6-8 flour tortillas

1. Cook same as above.

---

When my wife saw the mess I'd cooked, she pulled a face and said "I am NOT eating corn smut." I'll admit it looks pretty gross, but it tastes good. Part of the problem, too, was that she was thinking it was a mold (which, technically, is a kind of fungus, too), which it isn't (molds are typically in the phyla Zygomycota, Deuteromycota and Ascomycota, while huitlacoche (U. maydis) is in the phylum Basidiomycota.). Not that this in itself means it's harmless. I mean, deathcaps (Amanita phalloides) are in the same phylum. I've heard plenty of cautions about eating wild fungi, so you'd better believe I did my research.

That brings me to the one health-related caution I've found regarding huitlacoche: The sources I've found say that it acts in a way similar to (though milder than) ergot. It's been used by native peoples to induce labor and control post-partum bleeding because it induces uterine contractions. The wiki article mentions the chemical ustilagine, but there's not a related article. I did some searching and couldn't find any information about dosing, so I don't know how high a dose might be risky. As such, pregnant women should just stay clear, obviously. I did find another great article about it on the Cornell University website.

Save that one caveat, it appears to be a fantastic addition to my garden, not to mention surprisingly healthy and tasty, and no nastier conceptually (except to look at) than your average table mushroom; maybe less so, in fact, since huitlacoche grows on corn plants up off the ground, as opposed to on, you know, manure...