Sweet Corn is the highlight of Summer
Sweet Corn. Those two words simply mean summer is here. Grab an ear of corn, pull off the husks, rinse it and dig in. If you’ve never had corn sweet enough to eat raw, you don’t know what you’re missing.
I love corn for several reasons. It’s one of the easiest veggies to cook, my kids will eat it without balking, it freezes well and most importantly it tastes good.
Vine Ripe of Hanford supplies the corn for our weekly produce baskets. They walk the fields each morning looking for the silk strands that have started to turn color identifying a ripe ear of corn. Immediately after being picked, the corn is placed in cold storage until Family Farm Fresh arrives to pick them up.
Did you know there is one silk strand for each kernel of corn? Per FoodReference.com the average ear of corn has 800 kernels, always in an even number of rows. (Wonder how many people are going to start counting those rows.)
In addition to Sweet Corn, there are other varieties grown:
- Flint corn, also known as Indian corn, has a hard outer shell.
- Dent corn, also called field corn, is most often used for livestock feed. It is also used to make industrial products such as sweeteners, ethanol fuel and starch.
- Popcorn has a hard outer shell like Indian corn.
You can microwave, boil, steam or grill corn. When you grill corn, you can wrap the shucked corn in foil with seasoned butter or cook it directly on the grill to get a complimenting smoky flavor. Regardless of which option you choose, do not overcook your corn as it will cause it to dry out. Corn really doesn’t need to be ‘cooked’ just heated.
What is your favorite way to prepare corn?
Leave your comments below.