The thread for all things Corn on Cob. Where do you buy it, how do you eat it, etc.
Walmart had corn for 15c an ear yesterday, my fist of the new year.
I grew up in eastern Wisconsin, where Corn on Cob is one of the many national dishes (along with beer, brats, frozen custard, bullheads and broasted chicken). We never bought corn, it was always free. You know somebody who worked at a canning factory and they would bring you bags of it, or you would just drive to the cannery and help yourself off the pile waiting to be hauled inside for processing. Or late in the season, you go to a nearby town having a cornfest, and eat all you want free listening to a local polka band, after the early corn has been sold to the canneries. In late summer, eastern Wisconsin is floating on a sea of corn.
Corn is never served as a part of a meal. It is a meal. When you have corn, everyone eats it (butter and salt) until they are full, maybe with tomatoes on the side, or somebody makes baloney sandwiches.
Modern hybrids of corn will keep for a week, so there is now southern corn available most of the year. Local corn is still wonderful. My wife and I used to take road trips of a week or two, in August, and every day, buy corn from a farmyard stand and cook them up a few minutes after picking, on a Coleman stove. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I grew up in Maryland, and the season for corn began when it started appearing at roadside stands. Same here in Ohio. I don’t eat it unless it is local. And it is not a meal. It is a side, maybe the best one, but still a side.
I think the best corn I have ever had was when I was about ten. My parents took us to a friend’s small farm. We picked the corn ourselves, cooked it in the yard, and slathered it with home-made butter.
Mmmmmmmm, corn on the cob. I haven’t had so much as a kernel since I got my braces two years ago It’s definitely toward the top of the list of things I’m going to binge on when the scaffolding comes off. It’s also one of the few things I’ll put butter(which I otherwise hate) on. Do I even have to mention that it must be eaten from side to side, with a “ding” sound made when you get to the end and hit the imaginary carriage return ?
I won’t see fresh Ontario corn until much later in the summer, but today I bought a few ears of US corn from the discount shelf at the supermarket. My favourite way to cook corn on the cob is in the husk, over a fire or on the bbq, but these cobs are naked, so they’ll get steamed. Just salt and pepper on it for me.
I grow it myself in my garden. If I have to buy any, I get it at the store I work in when the local farmer or the Hutterites bring it in mid to late summer.
I probably shouldn’t say this, living in corn country and all, but I don’t eat much corn, on the cob or otherwise.
Corn on the cob – love it! That and watermelon are sure signs of summer. I grew up in Upstate NY, near Albany, and we had corn on the cob all the time. Sometimes my Dad BBQ’d it in foil (and wow, haven’t thought of that in years; Dad passed away a couple of years ago). Good memories.
My wife’s family is from Wisconsin. She loves corn on the cob too . But she says I eat mine wrong. She slathers hers with butter and a sprinkle of salt, while I (and don’t jump on me now!) eat mine plain. :eek:
Corn fields: I love driving through the midwest, seeing the tall corn fields. And then in Clear Lake IA, just north of town and north of the Surf Ballroom, is a special corn field. You walk in about a ¼ mile, the gracious owner allows it, and you walk to the spot where The Music Died, on 2/3/1959, The Day The Music Died. A simple memorial where they all died.
Can’t say I’ve ever counted. Are corn rows around the circumference, or along the length?
As to the OP, corn by itself isn’t a meal, to me at least, and I live in and grew up in corn country. It’s a mainstay at any barbecue, potluck or get together during the summer, though. We have a pretty big farmer here that has road side stands set up all summer along major roads in several local towns. It beats the Walmart and grocery store corn hands down!
I like it with butter, some light salt, and pepper. Can’t say I’ve had it with hot sauce, but I was recently introduced to “street corn” on Cherokee street in St. Louis (a primarily Mexican neighborhood, which is where I understand street corn comes from – Mexico, that is, not Cherokee street) and they sprinkle that with cayenne pepper (after slathering it in mayo and cheese). It’s a great way to enjoy corn on the cob as well.
On the boardwalk at Coney Island all the food places sell Sweet Corn (that’s always how the write it) and it is always super sweet and delicious with just butter and salt. I always wondered who supplied them with their always sweet and delicious corn.
My favorite way of making them is chucked on the grill-- husked or not-- with butter and salt. Second favorite is elote. I make mine also on the grill with husks. Mayo, Parmesan close husks and grill until scorched all around.
ETA: I do not eat them typewriter style. I turn the cob around instead of running it side to side.
Locally grown sweet corn begins to appear in late July but is shipped in from farther afield much sooner. I’m going to sow a block of sweet corn in my garden once we get past last frost date next week.
Eating style: typewriter
Preparation: prefer boiled (for 8-10 minutes) over grilled but both are yummy.
Condiments: spray-on style margarine, salt and pepper.
The key to getting the best corn is to reduce the amount of time from cornstalk to plate. The amount of sugar starts to diminish within hours and is dramatically less fresh in a matter of just a few days after harvest. Garden grown corn is best, followed by farmers market. Good corn can still be had in supermarkets but much less likely. At the store it’s important not to pick ears that have already had the husk peeled back.
I have never bought corn on the cob in a supermarket. I limit my consumption to summer when I either get it at farmers markets, roadside stands or pick it myself out of my buddy’s large garden. But for the 6 weeks or so when it is fresh, boy do I love it. I would say it is a co-star of the meal, and we tend to make something simple to go with it, like hot dogs or burgers. And most of the time, cucumbers and tomatoes.
I can easily eat 8 ears or more at a sitting. When you see one ear’s worth sliced off the cob, it makes you a little queasy thinking about how much corn is on 6 or 8 ears. My buddy, who grows the large garden, plants about six different varieties every year. And every year, they come out with new varieties that have more sugar and stay sweet longer. It’s not like the old days where you had to go straight from the garden into the pot or it wouldn’t be good. But we still tend to eat it within a day or two of picking.
And, yes, you eat it side-to-side, like a typewriter. My mom ate it around the cob, which I always thought was weird. I eat mine with butter, salt and pepper. Never tried hot sauce, but might give that a go. I’ve also heard of the Mexican style, but haven’t tried that yet, either.
Corn tends to be available from May through September where I live (pretty much right on the SF Bay Area / San Joaquin Valley border). Before Memorial Day, it’s usually 50 cents an ear at the chain supermarkets; it usually gets down to about 20 cents/ear in the middle of summer.
Cook it? I know a lass in Menasha who does not even bother with that but eats it right off the stalk, after feeding the husk part to her horses. The horses just love that husk stuff.
It’s definitely toward the top of the list of things I’m going to binge on when the scaffolding comes off. It’s also one of the few things I’ll put butter(which I otherwise hate) on. Do I even have to mention that it must be eaten from side to side, with a “ding” sound made when you get to the end and hit the imaginary carriage return ?
