August 31, 2005: Headlines: COS - Ecuador: Agriculture: Corn Smut: Boston Globe: Ecuador RPCV William Levin raises corn smut as high value crop

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Ecuador: Peace Corps Ecuador : The Peace Corps in Ecuador: August 31, 2005: Headlines: COS - Ecuador: Agriculture: Corn Smut: Boston Globe: Ecuador RPCV William Levin raises corn smut as high value crop

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Ecuador RPCV William Levin raises corn smut as high value crop

Ecuador RPCV William Levin raises corn smut as high value crop

To the unschooled eye, the fungus -- also called by its Aztec name, huitlacoche -- looks like black and gray tumors bubbling up inside the kernels of corn. Levine, who has two acres of corn under cultivation here, all of it intentionally infected with huitlacoche spores, is selling the fungus at some local farmers' markets. It has been prized by Mexican cooks since ancient times, and Levine is hoping it becomes the next big thing on US restaurant tables.

Ecuador RPCV William Levin raises corn smut as high value crop

His crop isn't pretty, but it tastes great

By Eric Goldscheider, Globe Correspondent | August 31, 2005

AMHERST -- Wm Levine's search for a high-value crop led him to smut. That's the word often used to describe an unattractive fungus called Ustilago maydis, which maize farmers in the United States have gone to great lengths to banish from their fields.

To the unschooled eye, the fungus -- also called by its Aztec name, huitlacoche -- looks like black and gray tumors bubbling up inside the kernels of corn. Levine, who has two acres of corn under cultivation here, all of it intentionally infected with huitlacoche spores, is selling the fungus at some local farmers' markets. It has been prized by Mexican cooks since ancient times, and Levine is hoping it becomes the next big thing on US restaurant tables.

Jim Fahey, chef at the Forest Cafe in Cambridge, likes to have huitlacoche on his menu but can't always find a supplier. It's hard to describe the taste, he says, because it doesn't fall into any familiar categories. ''It's one of those things you're not sure if you even like it," says Fahey. ''But all of a sudden it's gone, and you say, 'I must like it.' "

Others call the taste earthy, musty, inky, and slightly sweet.

Levine, 49, began growing things during summers spent on a dairy farm in Vermont. The Westchester County, N.Y., native works as a nurse practitioner at a community clinic in Western Mass. He changed his name years ago from William to Wm. His resume is varied, to say the least. He earned a degree in agriculture from Cornell, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, helped set up farmers' markets in Manhattan, earned a business degree, and traveled the world for global management consulting firm Arthur D. Little, advising others on how to make small-scale agriculture profitable.

Now living in Shutesbury with his wife, Polly Wagner, and their two children, Levine landed on his own ''high value" crop -- or at least what he hopes will be. He learned that the Amherst Conservation Department controls about 200 acres of farmland available for a nominal fee to people committed to keeping it in agriculture. Last year he set up a home lab where he could cultivate the spores, which he got from University of Illinois professor Jerald Pataky, whose work on eradicating ''corn smut" turned into a curiosity about the recipes and cultures of those who don't see it as a potential blight.

When he started out 20 years ago, explains Pataky, one of the first things he had to do was replicate the growth of the fungus he was trying to fight. He developed the technique of squirting a solution with suspended spores directly down the silk of each ear of corn. The only problem was it worked too well. ''What turned out to be a failure for screening for the disease turned out to be an excellent way to grow huitlacoche," said Pataky on the phone recently. He has advised several huitlacoche growers around the country.





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Story Source: Boston Globe

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ecuador; Agriculture; Corn Smut

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