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🎤 Instructors: Nick Steinhauser
📅 Date: Saturday, May 16, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
📍 Location: The Natural Garderner
💗 Donation: $7+ Members, $10+ Non-members
Members get a 30% discount
Ready to turn your corn into a savory delicacy? Join us for a hands-on workshop where you’ll learn how to cultivate huitlacoche (the prized “Mexican corn fungus” also known as corn smut) – a gourmet ingredient that chefs and food lovers crave for its earthy, mushroom-like flavor.
In this intensive 2-hour session, instructor Nick Steinhauser – engineer, mycologist, and lead of our Huitlacoche Cultivation Program – will share over three years of proven techniques. You'll discover:
The perfect timing for inoculation & cultivation
✅ How to harvest, prepare, and cook your homegrown huitlacoche
✅ Tips to avoid common pitfalls and maximize yield
🌽 Every in-person participant leaves with a take-home kit including selected corn seed + a concentrated spore solution syringe (enough to inoculate your entire crop).
Don't miss this chance to grow something truly unique – from seed to smut.
What is huitlacoche?
It's not a fungus you find, but one you cultivate! Huitlacoche is a delectable, mushroom-like delicacy created when corn is carefully infected by the fungus. The result is gourmet, blue-black kernels bursting with an earthy, savory flavor prized in traditional cuisine.
About the Instructors
Nick Steinhauser is an educator and engineer whose passion for sustainable food systems bridges technology and agriculture. By day, he applies analytical problem-solving as an engineer at IBM. He channels this same meticulous approach into his work with the Central Texas Mycological Society (CTMS), where he leads the Huitlacoche Cultivation Program. For over three years, Nick has been "dialing in" his successful inoculation and cultivation techniques, demystifying the process of growing this celebrated corn fungus. He brings a unique, detail-oriented perspective to the workshop, translating complex biological processes into accessible, actionable steps for gardeners of all levels.