Corn Smut Exposed: How This Deadly Superfood Hides Secret Powers

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 11:43:27 +0000

Corn Smut Exposed: How This “Deadly” Superfood Hides Secret Powers For centuries, corn smut—known scientifically as Ustilago maydis—has been dismissed as a destructive plant disease. Farmers and gardeners often view it as a nuisance, a fungal infection that ruins healthy ears of corn. Yet beneath its unusual appearance lies a paradox: what many consider a pest is emerging as one of nature’s most fascinating superfoods with hidden nutritional and medicinal powers. ### What Is Corn Smut? Corn smut is a unique fungal infection caused by the fungus Ustilago maydis. Unlike typical pathogens, this fungus grows inside corn kernels, transforming them into distinctive, swollen, grayish-black galls. Once thought irreversible, today’s research reveals that these galls—commonly called quechita in Mexico and corn penis in slang—are rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds unheard of in conventional crops.