A ‘gift’ worth the search

Huitlacoche isn’t just a dramatic-looking word (pronounced weet-la-coach-ay). It’s a dramatic-looking ingredient.

The English designation for this Mexican delicacy is the unpoetic “corn smut.” A corncob inoculated with the Ustilago maydis fungus looks as if it has contracted elephantiasis, covered in blue-gray, deformed kernels swollen to the size of kumquats. Cooked, huitlacoche turns as black as charred toast.

But there’s a reason that in Mexico, says La Urbana chef Julio Aguilera, finding huitlacoche on your corn is considered “a gift.” Once the fungus is sauteed, the flavor that emerges is dusky and earthy, retaining some of the corn’s sweetness.

The trick to finding great huitlacoche dishes, even at the height of corn season, is picking restaurants that avoid the canned version.