huitlacoche

English

Alternative forms

• cuitlacoche

Etymology

From Spanish huitlacoche, an alteration of cuitlacoche, from Classical Nahuatl cuitlacochin.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌwit.ləˈkoʊ.t͡ʃeɪ/

Noun

huitlacoche (uncountable)

1. Corn smut prepared as a delicacy.
   • 2006, Pete Wells, “Putting Le Bec-Fin to the Test”, in Best Food Writing 2006‎^[1], →ISBN, page 164:

     I told him how much I'd liked my fish course, a black sea bass fillet with pickled lotus root and huitlacoche sauce […]

   • 2009 February 2, Susan Sampson, “1001 foods you must taste”, in Toronto Star‎^[2]:

     Consider huitlacoche (corn fungus), miracle berries (that trick taste buds into thinking sour is sweet), Casu Marzu (maggoty black-market cheese) or turu (a worm-like mollusc).

See also

• Corn smut on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Spanish

FWOTD – 8 February 2014

Alternative forms

• cuitlacoche

Etymology

An alteration of cuitlacoche, from Classical Nahuatl cuitlacochin (“ear of maize infected with corn smut”), of uncertain composition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w̝itlaˈkot͡ʃe/ [w̝i.t̪laˈko.t͡ʃe]
• Rhymes: -otʃe
• Syllabification: hui‧tla‧co‧che

Noun

huitlacoche m (plural huitlacoches)

1. (Mexico) corn smut (fungus that affects maize, eaten as a delicacy)
   • 2013, Miguel Ángel Chávez Díaz de León, Polícia de Ciudad Juárez, Oceano, page 9

     ¡Estaba a punto de comer huilacoche!

     I was about to eat huilacoche!

Descendants

• → English: huitlacoche

Further reading

• “huitlacoche”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10