# Corn smut (Ustilago maydis)

**Ustilago maydis*; Mexican *huitlacoche*, from Nahuatl*

**Known today as.** A fungus that swells the kernels of maize into galls filled with blue-black spores.

Kind: Fungus

## What was it used for?

A delicacy in Mexico since Aztec times.

## What does modern science say?

Edible and nutritious.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **ustilagic acid**: 
- **lysine**: high, in the galls
- **beta-glucans**: 

**Mechanism.** The galls on maize, eaten young as huitlacoche, are a food rich in lysine, which maize itself has little of. Peoples of the American Southwest, the Zuni among them, used it to bring on labour, and it is said to act like ergot, but more weakly.

**Dose.** A food.

**Standing.** A delicacy of Mexican cooking; a research organism in fungal genetics.

## What lore surrounds it?

What farmers elsewhere destroy as a blight, Mexico sells as a delicacy.

## Sources

- Wikipedia, “Corn smut,” en.wikipedia.org (read 2 October 2026).
- Valverde, M. E., et al. (1995). “Huitlacoche (*Ustilago maydis*) as a food source: biology, composition, and production.” *Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition* 35.

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*Corn smut.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/corn-smut

Historical description, not medical advice.