Sweetcorn Perhaps?

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Wednesday 02 July, 2014 by Uncle Spike

Now THIS really is a summer crop. It has it’s challenges too, like all crops, but providing I water sufficiently in this rocky dry soil we have, then we should get something to adorn our dinner table.

The cobs are just forming, so a little while to go yet, but in the meantime, this is the story so far...

Breaking ground after a couple of weeks

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Soon enough, the plants grow.

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And this was just now.
They are struggling for water in this heat, but some aren’t too bad 🙂

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One problem I have seen before is what they call ‘smut’, a plant disease caused by the pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis. Now here’s a surprise, it’s a delicacy in some parts (see below) – question is, if our crop is infected this year, do I suggest this culinary aside to the boss? (yeah right).

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“Smut feeds on the corn plant and decreases the yield. Smut-infected crops are often destroyed, although some farmers use them to prepare silage. The smut is a delicacy in Mexico, where it is known as huitlacoche, even being preserved and sold for a significantly higher price than uninfected corn. The consumption of corn smut originates from Aztec cuisine. For culinary use, the galls are harvested while still immature — fully mature galls are dry and almost entirely spore-filled. The immature galls, gathered two to three weeks after an ear of corn is infected, still retain moisture and, when cooked, have a flavor described as mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy. Flavor compounds include sotolon and vanillin, as well as the sugar glucose.”

Souce:  Wikipedia

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