It's huitlacoche time!
By Lila Shaw Lash

As the summer season continues to ripen and the rains pick up, it’s probable that you will start to see the ladies on the streets selling one of my favorite Mexican delicacies—(M) huitlacoche. For those of you unfamiliar with the Mexican truffle, boy do you have a treat in store.

Huitlacoche is a corn fungus, sometimes nicknamed corn smut, that grows on the kernels of an ear of corn, making the corn look inflated, moldy and blackened in color. Discovered as having a unique, musty, inky flavor, huitlacoche is prized for it’s distinct odor and smell. Huitlacoche can be purchased year-round in cans or jars, but nothing substitutes the fresh, seasonal, real thing.

The history of huitlacoche can be traced back to the Aztec civilization. The word comes from the Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztecs—(M)huitlatl meaning “excrement” and coche meaning “raven.”

After discovering its grotesque origin, Europeans tried to rename the delicacy Mexican truffles, maize mushrooms or Aztec caviar, but the name in Mexico has persisted. 

American farmers in the US have been trying to eradicate it from their crop for years, but the smut persists. At one point the revered James Beard Foundation hosted a themed huitlacoche dinner to try and raise the fungi’s profile in the US, and more and more restaurants are embracing its unique flavor on their menus.

Huitlacoche’s time of year is the rainy season of any corn-growing region. The kernels will become engorged and moldy, but they must be picked early if the fungus is to have any culinary value. If the moldy kernels are not caught a maximum of two to three weeks after they begin to grow, the fungus will become very hard and filled with spores, rendering the delicacy virtually inedible.

Here in San Miguel, I often purchase my fresh huitlacoche from the ladies selling it from buckets on the street—(M)the same ladies usually have flor de calabaza for sale, another one of my favorites. It might be difficult to choose your fresh mold (oxymoron, no?), but look for the least slimy kernels, with a strong, solid exterior over the interior inky black color. The exterior will begin to break down over the next few days, so have a plan to use the fungus in its freshest state. When the season is really in swing, you’ll probably see restaurants featuring it in tamales, soups, tostadas, pastas and quesadillas.


A very accessible, easy preparation for your fresh huitlacoche is quesadillas. I recommend sauteeing some onions and garlic in a little oil, adding freshly chopped huitlacoche, maybe some diced tomato, serrano chiles, chopped cilantro and some salt to taste. Let it sauté for 15 minutes over medium heat and you will have a perfect quesadilla filling or tostada topping.

In my research on the beloved Mexican corn smut, I found an online forum, huitlacoche.org, a little place for huitlacoche lovers to meet. You just have to love the information superhighway, really. It’s a place to swap recipes, post questions and photos and share all things huitlacoche, so this might be the forum to get any of your crazy huitlacoche questions answered. Huitlacoche pizza, anyone?

It’s the season, the vendors are out walking around with their buckets and now you know a little about this ancient Mexican delicacy—(M)you just need to go buy your 300 grams and start cooking.

Lila Shaw Lash is a personal chef involved with The Dinner Goddess, a weekly dinner delivery and catering service for clients in San Miguel de Allende. For more information, write to lila@dinnergoddess.com  or visit dinnergoddess.com.