Corn Smut

Yum, smut taco!

All of the best foods sound vaguely pornographic, right? Take for example corn smut, fungus that grows on corn. It causes the kernels to swell up and turn black as they fill with spores. Attractive image, right? The corn farmers that I know, few though they are, have all told me that corn smut ruins corn. The Mexicans beg to differ, where smut is a delicacy. You’d think if it was actually delicious they would rename it something more attractive. You can find this disease in quesadillas and other dishes all over Mexico.

Cooked or available canned, it looks like the kind of thing that you’d get if you scraped out a chain smoker's lung. However, if you’re in the mood for foods that resemble lumpy coal tar, this may be just the thing.

Should you eat this? Probably not, but you could.

Have I personally tried this? No.