Wild Mushrooms — Setas/Hongos Silvestres

Wild trompeta mushrooms for sale in the Pátzcuaro street market (with a child's hand to show scale) Full Image

After his morning espresso, Dancing Dog enjoys wondering through the street market in Pátzcuaro. The lively energy and the many strange foods, exotic fruits and weird vegetables are ever intriguing.

But it's still the summer rainy season here, and this afternoon, as it has every afternoon since D.D.'s arrival, it rained. Dark gray clouds moved in from the south and west, followed by large splats on the paving stones in the street, then an hour or so of tropical downpour to the percussive accompaniment of rolling thunder and dazzling flashes of lightning. A nuisance, if one is out and about, but otherwise an entertaining show...

One blessing of all the precipitation is the abundance of edible fungi available from vendors in the market. Today, a couple of Purépecha ladies had lurid orange trompas de puerco (“pig's ears”), also called trompetas or cornetas, for sale. D.D.'s amateurish stab at mycology leads him to believe these are Gomphus floccosus, but supposedly this chanterelle-like species is inedible. A very strong, earthy flavor when cooked; D.D. only took a nibble.

Patita de pájaro (“parrot’s feet”) (about the same scale as trompeta above Full Image

Many more vendors had patita de pájaro (“parrot’s feet”) or escobetas (“brooms”) (Ramaria flava) for sale. Buckets of this stringy fungi, resembling coral in various shades of pink and buff, were lined up on the sidewalks just outside the main market arcade. (Recipes are here.) Both of these mushrooms are harvested from the high pine forests in the mountains outside of Pátzcuaro and brought to the market each day.

Close-up of huitlacoche, a.k.a. “corn smut” Full Image

And then there's the famed huitlacoche, much in vogue these days in “nouvelle Mexican cuisine.” This is a type of fungus (Ustilago maydis) that infects corn kernels. It's regarded as a pathogen among maize farmers in the U.S., where it's known as “corn smut.” But it's considered a delicacy in Mexico. The soft, swollen silver-gray galls are scraped off the cob and sauteed, or used in soups or as a filling for enchiladas, where they impart a distinctive “smokey” mushroom flavor. Recipes are here.

Huitlacoche is available canned in the States, and is rather pricey. Perhaps to polish its smutty image a bit, it's been nicknamed “Mexican caviar” or “Mexican corn truffle.” The two cobs of corn infected with huitlacoche shown in the photo were only 10 pesos in the market. Enough for an omelet or two...