Corn fungus identification

I finally finished picking all of our painted mountain milling corn. We had a strange season, some periods of heavy rain and then droughts later on.
I have lots of nice looking cobs but I'm wondering about the ones that have a bit of mold or fungus on them. I've read a bit about aspergillus, and it seems that is dangerous enough that the whole cob should be avoided. Is there a good way to identify harmful vs harmless molds (e,.g., smut). Is this a "cut it off" and use the rest type of situation? Our primary use will be for cornmeal.

Here are some photo examples.

Oops - struck the return key too soon.

Here are the photos:

That might be corn smut that has not matured yet.  Like you caught it early.

Could also be that some insects tried to eat it while it was still growing, and it's a scar tissue.

I generally remove such kernels as I shell the corn. If I see a patch of moldy kernels on one end I break the ear in half and discard that portion.

If that is corn smut, count yourself blessed.

Fungal disease on corn plants to gringos. "Huitlacoche" or Mexican Truffles to our friends south of the border.

Let it go until it forms fleshy galls. Harvest and sell those for ~$40/lb to your local Mexican grocer or restaurant. I read they command an even higher price if frozen. Or treat yourself to a yield better than the corn itself on your tacos or quesadillas.

I got "decimated" with it last year. Marched through my garden trying to save the corn by removing infected ears. Filled a whole wheelie bin with it, and didn't want the spores "infecting" my soil any more than I could avoid, so they all went out with the garbage instead of getting fed to the hogs.

A Mexican acquaintance overheard me expressing my moral indignation at this ugly alien infection in my garden, looked at the pictures, and asked slyly if I was still dealing with the infection. When he heard how much I'd thrown away you would have thought he was going to cry. After he educated my ignorance, I was the one about ready to cry.