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Corn Smut Grown As High-Value Crop
Veronica Guzman’s research focuses on growing corn smut - on purpose. That goes against the sensibilities of conventional crop producers, but Guzman isn’t working for big farmers.
“We’re trying to develop methods for small-scale farmers for direct marketing. We’re looking for high-value alternative crops in the
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Corn Smut Grown As High-Value Crop CROPS New Crops Veronica Guzman’s research focuses on growing corn smut - on purpose That goes against the sensibilities of conventional crop producers but Guzman isn’t working for big farmers “We’re trying to develop methods for small-scale farmers for direct marketing We’re looking for high-value alternative crops in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas ” she explains The Aztecs were the first people known to eat corn smut which is called huitlacoche pronounced WEET-LA-KO-CHEE and it is considered a delicacy in Mexico City and other regions of Mexico The fungus has a mild earthy flavor and is used in a variety of recipes Nutritionally it’s packed with unique proteins and minerals and loaded with lysine an essential amino acid It has more cholesterol fighting beta-glucens than oatmeal The only method that worked 60 percent success rate was using a pure culture strain of the fungus which she grows in a broth media Guzman’s challenge is to develop a method that makes it easy for a farmer to access and apply the spores to inoculate their sweet corn or field corn Biological supply companies could provide spores and Guzman believes that farmers could use backpack sprayers or automatic syringes to inoculate corn The other challenge is harvest “There’s just a one or two-day window to harvest it ” she explains About 16 to 24 days after inoculation the Huitlacoche is moist spongy and ready for harvest It doesn’t take long for it to become mushy and inedible The fresh Huitlacoche must be put on ice and shipped overnight sold right away or frozen With recent publicity she’s had calls from chefs so she knows there is a market More information about her research can be found at www southernsare org Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Veronica Guzman The University of Texas-Pan American 1201 W University Dr Edinburg Texas 78539 ph 866 441-UTPA; guzmanva@utpa edu
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