By: Charles Barnard

Charles Barnard — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 01:17:42 +0000

My company, Wizard of Odd, LLC is working to perfect a cheaper method of inoculation; and ways to avoid spoilage during transport, storage and marketing.
This summer we hope to do larger field trials and proof of concept of the packaging/storage solutions.
In our area (60 miles east of Minneapolis, MN) 120 bushels is good corn yield in many years–much lower than Illinois or Iowa or even southern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin. In part this is because our growing season is short, and often gets cut shorter by frosts. In part it's the land.
Huitlacoche is harvested much earlier than field corn.
The name is an issue–but the Hispanic population in the US is around 50 million–nearly a third of the population of Mexico. And it's growing.
Food production has recently been interrupted world-wide by fire, drought & such, As the climate changes we can expect further disruptions.
There a a lot of foods to day in the US which you would never have seen even 30 years ago, the appetite for variety has grown greatly–so chefs are being more creative in ingredients, combinations and presentation. In addition, the molecular gastronomy studies are making a science out of recipe design–influencing ingredient combinations which were previously unknown but palatable.
As with all strongly flavored foods, huitlacoche seems to be a love it/hate it kind of food–to an extent it is an acquired taste.
Oddly enough, huitlacoche should actually be classified as a 'genetically modified' food. It actually modifies the corn DNA so it will manufacture huitlacoche instead of corn kernels!
I hope that within a couple more years you will be seeing far more of it, though probably not under any of it's current names…
The Natuatl is usually translated 'black' rather than 'raven' and is probably more accurate in this particular word.

Comments on: Uncovering Huitlacoche – the ‘Mexican Truffle’ – in Brooklyn

By: Charles Barnard