What is the main benefit of eating Mexican huitlacoche?

The benefits of eating Mexican huitlacoche include a good dose of antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and a high fiber content, making this Mexican delicacy not only perfect for adding flavor to your quesadillas but also very nutritious.Huitlacoche, or cuitlacoche, is also known as Mexican truffle and is a parasitic fungus (Ustilago maydis) that grows on corn during the rainy season. The Mexicas knew how to take advantage of it and consumed it, and it is now considered a nutraceutical food due to its beneficial properties.It is used to prepare classic quesadillas, but it is also eaten in soups, tamales, sauces, and stews with onions. Although in the crops of other countries, huitlacoche is undesirable, in Mexico, efforts have been made to produce it in a controlled manner, and it is now an international gourmet ingredient.Essential amino acids: the main benefit of huitlacocheWhen it comes to nutrient content, huitlacoche is exceptional because it contains essential amino acids that our body cannot produce. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, there are 20 of them, and we can create 11; the other 9 are essential and we obtain them through food. Lysine is present in huitlacoche (6.6 g/100 g protein) and is one of them.This essential amino acid is important for calcium absorption, collagen production, and helps the immune system. As an amino acid, lysine also plays a role in muscle mass creation, wound recovery, hormone production (in particular, it stimulates growth hormone), and antibody production.In addition to this great contribution, huitlacoche is also a good source of essential fatty acids such as oleic and linoleic, its protein content varies between 11.5 and 16.4 g/100 g, it contains B vitamins, and has very little fat. Phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties have been identified in it.Combined with the corn from tortillas, for example, this fungus is nutritionally perfect and makes the Mexican diet very healthy. You can always find it in markets and street fairs during the rainy season, from June to September, so hurry and take advantage of the huitlacoche season to prepare a delicious Aztec cake, some red enchiladas, or chicken stuffed with this fungus and Oaxaca cheese.