# Poll: How do you eat corn on the cob? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 6, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799 "2025-09-06T20:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/21 "2025-09-07T12:59:47Z")
Going forth and back horizontally, like a civilized person. We usually steam them for 10 minutes, shucked, then poked with proper corn handles and slathered with butter, salt, pepper, and sometimes sprinkled with hot sauce. One of the simple pleasures of life. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/22 "2025-09-07T13:14:45Z")
Thank you to the O.P. for reminding me that I have an ear in the fridge waiting for me… (Oh, ha ha, autocorrect. No, not “ear infection,” jeebus.) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/23 "2025-09-07T14:38:15Z")
My two front teeth have chipped and been bonded and rebonded several times over the years, so I generally avoid corn on the cob and biting into whole apples these days. For that reason I chose ‘never’. Maybe someday I’ll pay to get front crowns and I will once again be able to eat COTC the way it’s meant to be, left to right horizontally, typewriter style, with my new bionic teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/24 "2025-09-07T15:45:05Z")
I don’t really have a system. Corn on the cob is relatively rare for us to start. When I do eat it, I just dive in. Sometimes horizonal rows, sometimes something else. I do enjoy it though. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/25 "2025-09-07T15:47:46Z")
Horizonal, left-to-right, with the big end on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/26 "2025-09-07T15:52:03Z")
Used to be with the majority for most of my life, but now I just like slicing the kernels off the cob and seasoning/buttering them. I love fresh corn (have some in the fridge right now), but I’ve decided I no longer like the mess and awkwardness of gnawing it off the cob. For me very much an “old man” thing I’ve started doing in just the past couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/27 "2025-09-07T15:52:40Z")
This is the way. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/28 "2025-09-07T15:54:51Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Madness! You’re holding it backward. > [@Munch](#): > > I’m left-handed. They hold everything backward ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/29 "2025-09-07T15:57:53Z")
I love corn in all its forms. And I love corn on the cob. I microwave it now, as others do, and it’s so easy and mess free (other than the eating part), I’ll never cook it any other way. Grilled is nice, but we don’t have a grill. I eat it with butter only. I’m supposed to limit my salt intake, so I make up the difference with yummy butter. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/30 "2025-09-07T16:05:59Z")
I’m left handed, too. But like guitar or crochet, I may have been taught by righties to hold it backward. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/31 "2025-09-07T17:52:20Z")
We only eat corn on the cob in the summer, when it’s fresh. I _usually_ eat horizontally, left to right, as I was taught as a wee child. I don’t care, or even make note of, which end faces where. But sometimes I’ll eat a path all the way around the ends first, because it amuses me. You didn’t ask how we cook it, but we now put it in the microwave with the husks on, and zap it for 2.5 minutes per ear. Cut off the fat end just past the ‘bump’ and squeeze from the pointier end, as described above. Butter and salt at the table. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/32 "2025-09-07T18:00:57Z")
I never realized I was in the minority in how I eat corn-on-the-cob. If I understand the poll descriptions correctly, I eat it spiral style, twisting the cob all the way around then moving slightly to the right. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/33 "2025-09-07T19:17:18Z")
Scrape off the cob with a knife, eat kernels with a spoon. I LOVE fresh corn but can’t stand having to floss after gnawing it off the cob. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/34 "2025-09-07T19:54:39Z")
Weird thing is it is so automatic that I don’t know how I do it. Going to have some tonight, bought at Farmers Market yesterday, cooking them per the unshucked in microwave method described here, so I’ll see tonight! I _think_ I do vertical each end to give a place to hold then mostly horizontal right to left. But not sure that I don’t throw in a vertical here and there. As the spirit moves me! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/35 "2025-09-07T22:12:09Z")
I gave the wrong answer. I said horizontal left to right, but I realized after thinking about it that it’s really right to left, with the small end on the right. I think. I guess I haven’t paid that much attention. My husband does the cooking, I think he microwaves it sometimes, and other times steams it. What makes me different from most is that I don’t put anything at all on it, except a little salt and pepper, most of which doesn’t stick because the corn is dry. I love fresh corn, and while I also love butter, good sweet corn just doesn’t need it. My father used to take a sacrificial piece of bread, load it up with more butter than you would think possible, hold it cupped in his left hand, then roll the corn on the buttered bread until the corn was dripping. Repeat as needed. Thinking of it still makes me gag. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/36 "2025-09-07T22:50:12Z")
I remove all the husk and the silk, rinse the corn in a bit of water, and while it’s still wet, wrap it loosely in waxed paper, rolling it up like a burrito. Three ears for four minutes in the microwave. The wax paper allows some of the steam escape, unlike plastic wrap. I’ll also rinse the cooked ear under running cool water so it’s not so blazing hot when brought to the table, and to stop the cooking process. I’ll eat it horizontally, but my wife is a heretic and eats it vertically around the cob. I don’t dare discuss who is right with her. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/37 "2025-09-07T22:58:59Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > and only _3 minutes_ from start to finish. Three minutes is much too long. If you have a chance to pick your own, and pick your moment, there’s no reason to leave the cornfield, or to cook it at all. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/38 "2025-09-07T23:52:04Z")
> [@vbob](#): > > Three minutes is much too long. If you have a chance to pick your own, and pick your moment, there’s no reason to leave the cornfield, or to cook it at all I’ve tried it both ways, but really prefer it cooked. Browned would be my favorite if I grill or roast it, but I’m too lazy to grill it outdoors, and I don’t like turning on the oven when it’s hot out (no A/C). Oh, and I eat it like this: > [@teelabrown](#): > > The right way: start at the narrower tip of the cob, because all the sweetest, tenderest small kernels are there. That way if you get too full to finish off the entire cob, at least you’ve eaten up all the best part. I’ve always heard it called lathe-style vs typewriter-style. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/39 "2025-09-08T02:29:45Z")
I have never microwaved corn. Until this thread it never even occurred to me. I’ll give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799/40 "2025-09-08T04:13:57Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I have never microwaved corn. Until this thread it never even occurred to me. I’ll give it a try. It’s honestly one of that mere handful of things that are actually better cooked in a microwave, as opposed to just re-heating. Well, maybe outside of grilling I suppose, which is a lot more work. Much faster, easier and neater than boiling with equal or superior outcomes once you get the timing right for your strength of microwave. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-do-you-eat-corn-on-the-cob/1022799.md?page=3)