Smut feeds on the corn plant and decreases the yield.
Smut-infected crops are often destroyed, although some farmers use them to prepare silage.
However, the infected galls are still edible, and in Mexico they are highly esteemed as a delicacy, where it is known as huitlacoche, being preserved and sold for a significantly higher price than uninfected corn.
The consumption of corn smut originated directly from Aztec cuisine.
For culinary use, the galls are harvested while still immature — fully mature galls are dry and almost entirely spore-filled.
The immature galls, gathered two to three weeks after an ear of corn is infected, still retain moisture and, when cooked, have a flavor described as mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy.
Flavor compounds include sotolon and vanillin, as well as the sugar glucose.

Huitlacoche is packed full of the important amino acid, lysine, that the body requires but cannot manufacture.
It also contains more cholesterol reducing beta-glucens than oatmeal, and more protein than most of the mushroom family.

The fungus has had difficulty entering into the American and European diets as most farmers see it as blight, despite attempts by government and high-profile chefs to introduce it.
In the mid-1990s, due to demand created by high-end restaurants, Pennsylvania and Florida farms were allowed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to intentionally infect corn with huitlacoche.
Most observers consider the program to have had little impact, although the initiative is still in progress.
The cursory show of interest is significant because the USDA has spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to eradicate corn smut in the United States.
Moreover, in 1989, the James Beard Foundation held a high-profile huitlacoche dinner, prepared by Josefina Howard, chef at Rosa Mexicano restaurant.
 This dinner tried to get Americans to eat more of it by renaming it the Mexican truffle and it is often compared to truffles in food articles describing its taste and texture.

Native Americans of the American Southwest, including the Zuni people, have used corn smut in an attempt to induce labor.
It has similar medicinal effects to ergot, but weaker, due to the presence of the chemical ustilagine.
Smut feeds on the corn plant and decreases the yield. Smut-infected crops are often destroyed, although some farmers use them to prepare silage. However, the infected galls are still edible, and in Mexico they are highly esteemed as a delicacy, where it is known as huitlacoche, being preserved and sold for a significantly higher price than uninfected corn. The consumption of corn smut originated directly from Aztec cuisine. For culinary use, the galls are harvested while still immature — fully mature galls are dry and almost entirely spore-filled. The immature galls, gathered two to three weeks after an ear of corn is infected, still retain moisture and, when cooked, have a flavor described as mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy. Flavor compounds include sotolon and vanillin, as well as the sugar glucose.
Huitlacoche is packed full of the important amino acid, lysine, that the body requires but cannot manufacture. It also contains more cholesterol reducing beta-glucens than oatmeal, and more protein than most of the mushroom family.
The fungus has had difficulty entering into the American and European diets as most farmers see it as blight, despite attempts by government and high-profile chefs to introduce it. In the mid-1990s, due to demand created by high-end restaurants, Pennsylvania and Florida farms were allowed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to intentionally infect corn with huitlacoche. Most observers consider the program to have had little impact, although the initiative is still in progress. The cursory show of interest is significant because the USDA has spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to eradicate corn smut in the United States. Moreover, in 1989, the James Beard Foundation held a high-profile huitlacoche dinner, prepared by Josefina Howard, chef at Rosa Mexicano restaurant.  This dinner tried to get Americans to eat more of it by renaming it the Mexican truffle and it is often compared to truffles in food articles describing its taste and texture.
Native Americans of the American Southwest, including the Zuni people, have used corn smut in an attempt to induce labor. It has similar medicinal effects to ergot, but weaker, due to the presence of the chemical ustilagine.
Corn smut