"It's a fusion of good things here at Trent – a research office open to new ideas, encouraged collaboration with other institutions, and a good relationship with the community.”

These are the ingredients to bring a new Canadian food delicacy, corn truffle, from the research lab and into local Farmers’ Markets and onto the tables of the everyday diner, says Dr. Barry Saville, associate professor and chair of Trent's Forensic Science program.

Professor Saville, whose research is focused primarily on understanding how fungi interacts with plants, has been working with Fleming College and Peterborough's downtown merchants to explore ways to bring corn truffle, also known as huitlacoche, to the Canadian market.

Corn truffle is a mushroom-like fungus that grows on ears of corn. A naturally-occurring phenomenon, corn truffle has been a part of the Mexican diet for thousands of years. Because of its unique flavour, corn truffle has the potential to interest Canadian foodies to try new and different things.

"In Mexico, huitlacoche occurs on the landrace corn varieties, which are grown mainly for flour," explains Prof. Saville said. "But I thought if we grew this on sweet corn it would make it more acceptable to Canadian palates."

Prof. Saville and his research team have developed a corn truffle inoculant that is a variation of what grows in nature, and are working on an inoculation procedure for ears of corn that will provide a good consistent yield. The fungal culture is injected into the silks of a developing cob, using a hypodermic syringe.

The product is being used by a local Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, and has recently been sampled at the Peterborough Downtown Farmers' Market with the help of chefs and students from Fleming College's culinary management department.

The participation of Fleming has been critical to the project, Prof. Saville stresses. "Recipes for corn truffle are important to help market the product to a broad audience," he says. "At Fleming they are classically trained French and Italian chefs, so they go different places with the product. They're delighted to be developing new recipes with a food product that no one, outside the traditional chefs, has used before."

Looking ahead, Prof. Saville is planning to collaborate with a local farmer so he can take the next step in making corn truffle a commercially viable product. In the meantime, he takes pleasure in knowing that he is one of the few scientists who can, literally, eat his own research.