Just wondering if anyone else here has tried corn smut (huitlacoche). In Mexico, it is a delicacy.
My wife and I got a bunch of it perhaps 20 years ago and it is quite good as a meat substitute in tacos. I would love to lay my hands on more (we have a terrible raccoon problem and unfortunately growing corn of any kind in our back yard is a pipe dream).
The inside is black and kinda nasty-looking, but the taste is excellent. If you decide to try it, be sure to pick and process before the galls become leathery and the spores inside turn powdery. The stage shown in the photo below is just about perfect.