Huitlacoche - any one ever tried this food?

dcfaithful

A delicacy in Mexico. I saw it on TV and now I am intrigued...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huitlacoche

Anyone ever tried this culinary wonder? If so, please explain your experiences and the flavor...apprarently it has been described as "mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy".

:?:

dcfaithful

Nobody has tried this moldy corn fungus?

mookeywrench

seems like the kind of stuff they would feed to a tourist as a joke.

gabers

I have a Mexican friend that says it's delicious but I just don't think I could eat it after seeing the first picture.

mbangel10

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000344.php

songforholly

smut

Claireack

I think if it looks a little nicer than those pictures it should be fine. I eat quite a bit of quorn which is fungus/mold;

Quorn is the leading brand of mycoprotein food product in the UK.[1] A mycoprotein is any protein-rich foodstuff made from processed edible fungus.

Quorn is produced as both a cooking ingredient and a range of ready meals. It is sold (largely in Europe but also in other parts of the world) as a healthy food and an alternative to meat, especially for vegetarians, earning the Vegetarian Society's seal of approval.[2] As it uses egg white as a binder, it is not a vegan food.

When introduced into the United States in 2002 there were concerns about possible health risks.

History
During the 1950s, it was predicted that by the 1980s there would be a shortage of protein-rich foods.[3] In response to this, many research programmes were undertaken to use single-cell biomass as an animal feed. Contrary to the trend, J. Arthur Rank instructed the Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) Research Centre to investigate converting starch (the waste product of cereal manufacturing undertaken by RHM) into a protein-rich food for human consumption.

The filamentous fungus Fusarium venenatum, more precisely a mould, was discovered in 1967. After an extensive screening process,[4] it was isolated as the best candidate. In 1980, RHM was given permission to sell mycoprotein for human consumption after a ten-year evaluation program.

The initial retail product was produced in 1985 by Marlow Foods – named after RHM's headquarters in Marlow, Buckinghamshire – a joint venture between RHM and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) who provided a fermenter left vacant from their abandoned single-cell feed programme. The product was named after the Leicestershire village of Quorn, reputedly[by whom?] for purely marketing purposes. The two partners invested patents for growing and processing the fungus and other intellectual properties in the brand. Although the food sold well in the initial test market of the RHM staff canteen, the large supermarket chains were unconvinced until Lord Sainsbury, finance director of the UK's Sainsbury's supermarket chain – then 18%-owned by his family[5] – agreed to stock the new brand.

Quorn entered widespread distribution in the UK in 1994, and was introduced to other parts of Europe in the 1990s, and to the United states in 2002.[6] The initial advertising campaign for Quorn featured sports personalities including footballer Ryan Giggs, rugby player Will Carling, and runner Sally Gunnell.[7]

Although the mycoprotein was originally conceived as a protein-rich food supplement for the predicted global famine, the food shortage has not yet occurred. In 1989, a survey revealed that almost half of the UK population was reducing their intake of red meats and a fifth of young people were vegetarians. As a result, Marlow Foods decided to sell Quorn as a healthy meat alternative free from animal fats and cholesterol.

When ICI spun off its biological products divisions from the core chemical business in 1993, Marlow became part of the Astra Zeneca group, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. In 2003, Zeneca sold Marlow, the Quorn business, and associated trademarks and patents, to a private equity firm for £70 million.[8] Two years later food giant Premier Foods bought Marlow for £172 million.[9]

Marlow sells Quorn brand mycoprotein in ready-to-cook forms – as cubes and a form resembling minced meat – and later introduced a range of chilled vegetarian meal, including pizzas, lasagna, cottage pie, and products resembling sliced meat, hot dogs, and burgers. As of 2006[update] it is available in stores in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, the US, Switzerland and Republic of Ireland. It is also available in Delhaize supermarkets in Germany. In the UK, it enjoys around 60% of the meat-replacement food market, with annual sales of around £95 million[8]. Until December 2003, Quorn had been available in France.

In 2004, McDonald's introduced a Quorn-branded burger bearing the seal of approval of the Vegetarian Society,[10] an endorsement criticised by the Vegan Society.[11] However, the product proved to be less popular than the company had envisaged and was soon removed from the menu.


Production

Quorn fillets - fried, defrosted and frozen.Quorn is made from the soil mould Fusarium venenatum strain PTA-2684 (previously misidentified[by whom?] as the parasitic mold Fusarium graminearum). The fungus is grown in continually oxygenated water in large, otherwise sterile fermentation tanks. During the growth phase, glucose is added as a food for the fungus, as are various vitamins and minerals (to improve the food value of the resulting product). The resulting mycoprotein is then extracted and heat-treated to remove excess levels of RNA. Previous attempts to produce such fermented protein foodstuffs were thwarted by excessive levels of DNA or RNA; without the heat treatment, purine, found in nucleic acids, is metabolised by humans, producing uric acid, which can lead to gout.[12]

The product is dried and mixed with chicken egg albumen, which acts as a binder. It is then textured, giving it some of the grained character of meat, and pressed either into a mince (resembling ground beef), forms resembling chicken breasts, meatballs, turkey roasts, or into chunks (resembling diced chicken breast). In these forms, Quorn has a varying colour and a mild flavour resembling the imitated meat product, and is suitable for use as a replacement for meat in many dishes, such as stews and casseroles.[citation needed] The final Quorn product is high in protein and dietary fibre and is low in saturated fat and salt. It contains less dietary iron than do most meats.

The different tastes and forms of Quorn are results of industrial processing of the raw fungus.

Quorn for the European market is produced at Marlow's headquarters in Stokesley, North Yorkshire and at nearby Billingham in Stockton-on-Tees.[13]

[edit] Controversy
Quorn's 2002 debut in the United States was more problematic than its European introduction had been – the sale of Quorn was contested by The American Mushroom Institute, Gardenburger, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). They filed complaints with advertising and trading-standards watchdogs in Europe and the US, claiming that the labelling of Quorn as "mushroom based" was deceptive.[14] The CSPI, observed that while a mushroom is a fungus, fusarium is not a mushroom, and quipped, "Quorn's fungus is as closely related to mushrooms as humans are to jellyfish."

Sorry that's so long, I wasn't sure how to paste to link, it's all from wiki, there's more bumph in there. When it originally came on the market it didn't taste of much which was great, now they tend to flavour it to make it taste like meat, which I don't really like. The mince is the best, you can chuck it into anything.

Anyway basically, after that long blurb, all I wanted to say is that I eat fungus/mold so I'd give it a go!

songforholly

that was epic!
I like mushrooms

dcfaithful

Claireack wrote:

I think if it looks a little nicer than those pictures it should be fine. I eat quite a bit of quorn which is fungus/mold;

Quorn is the leading brand of mycoprotein food product in the UK.[1] A mycoprotein is any protein-rich foodstuff made from processed edible fungus.

My girlfriend and I eat a vegetarians diet and we rely on Quorn cutlets...hopefully we're referring to the same thing? They're basically like a fake chicken breast, and they don't taste much different when seasoned right.

Claireack

dcfaithful wrote:

My girlfriend and I eat a vegetarians diet and we rely on Quorn cutlets...hopefully we're referring to the same thing? They're basically like a fake chicken breast, and they don't taste much different when seasoned right

Yes they must be the same thing, I didn't think they did them over there. We get allsorts, mince, chunks, roast, bacon rashers, meat slices, burgers, ready meals, loads of stuff. They are great for easy meals. I think if you eat quorn you might as well give the huitlacoche a go.

dcfaithful

Claireack wrote:

dcfaithful wrote:

My girlfriend and I eat a vegetarians diet and we rely on Quorn cutlets...hopefully we're referring to the same thing? They're basically like a fake chicken breast, and they don't taste much different when seasoned right

Yes they must be the same thing, I didn't think they did them over there. We get allsorts, mince, chunks, roast, bacon rashers, meat slices, burgers, ready meals, loads of stuff. They are great for easy meals. I think if you eat quorn you might as well give the huitlacoche a go.

Oh I would definitely give it a shot, but I'm apparently it's kind of hard to come by around here.

"Regardless, the cursory show of interest is significant because the USDA has spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to eradicate huitlacoche in the United States", from wikipedia.

Sounds like it's not even wanted...:( I'm curious enough to try it.

hinx

The chef at the restaurant I used to work in used it as a garnish on a corn soup once. It just tasted earthy, like mushrooms, mixed with corn taste. Nothing really weird. It looks pretty gross though.

mensane

hahaha....i was going to reference The Sneeze as well...

http://www.thesneeze.com/2005/steve-dont-eat-it-vol-7.php

dcfaithful

hinx wrote:

The chef at the restaurant I used to work in used it as a garnish on a corn soup once. It just tasted earthy, like mushrooms, mixed with corn taste. Nothing really weird. It looks pretty gross though.

That's mainly it. It is very unattractive, and for me the presentation or look of food is a big thing.