It’s August here in upstate NY and we get some of the sweetest corn you could believe. Sometimes it’s so sweet you could eat it just the way it is. Why, then does everybody cook it? I have only taken a few bites raw, but it was good. When I was a kid my dad told me it would make me sick.
So, what da ya think?
Eric
My wife eats it raw, and it’s not a problem. It may be a bit more tender cooked*, but mainly I like it hot with butter melted on it, then salted. Personal preference.
*That means properly cooked – about two minutes after being dropped into boiling water. Cooking for longer times makes it mushy and not really worth eating.
I agree with Gary T. 
You want to just get it hot, so it’ll melt the butter.
Try this; slather a lot of butter on a slice of bread, salt and pepper the butter to your preference, then wrap the bread around the corn and turn it (the ear) to coat. mmm. Repeat as desired. If you’re a real pig, you can then eat the bread.
Fresh sweet corn that is tender is excellent raw. It’s really good cut off of the cob and put in a salad. The problem is that a lot of corn is not really sweet nor tender. Also, corn that isn’t fresh usually isn’t going to be tender either. It’s gotta be stored one way or another and canned is about the only way to keep is tender but that means cooking it. Frozen corn is okay but is still not fresh and has to be heated up at least. Dry corn, well that’s definitely something you’re not gonna want to try without some preparation first.
I like mine grilled a few minutes on the pit still in the shucks. Grab an ear by the stalk, peel back the shucks and silk, a roll in some butter, a few shakes of fajita seasoning and a cold shinerbock to wash it down. 
just waiting on the ribs to get done
PS be careful to thoroughly wash any raw corn you may consume. Unless it is YOUR corn you don’t know what contaminants it may have. Not to mention the various pests, worms and other critters you might come across.
And if you’re an actual real pig, you can also eat the cob.
I’ll usually only eat corn raw that I’ve just pulled off the stalk in my back yard, and walk around checking the rest of the crop while I munch. But good corn growing weather is too hot for this fat old body.
You don’t want to get me started on home grown food, esp. corn. 
When you boil (or steam) corn, prepare it as t-keela describes. Actually, you can just toss it into the pot, silk and all, then clean it up before you enjoy it.
I wouldn’t eat the cob, but I will such those delicious juices out of it. Don’t let the actual real pigs see you though. They think that’s their little secret, and you’ll really piss them off.
Some people (read: I) are allergic to raw vegetables and fruit. Eating cooked corn is pretty much the only way I can eat it.
I’ve been meaning to starting a GQ thread asking why I’m allergic to most raw veggies but I just haven’t gotten around to it.
This one can stay here for now, but let’s quit with the recipes and get back to the OP.
Bonus if you want to answer the related question just posted by UrbanChic
But try to give factual answers, rather than “I always thought it was because…” or “I heard it was…”
Also bear in mind that the ultra-sweet corn is a relatively recent development. The older styles of sweet corn, albeit still sweet, would be improved by cooking.
I used to be a vegetarian, UrbanChic, Look here. You are noy alone.
Even the sweetest corn will be sweeter after a little boiling has broken down some starch into sugar. And, of course, butter doesn’t melt worth a damn on raw corn.
Thanks, mangeorge. That site describes my allergy precisely. I’m allergic to almost all raw nuts, herbs, vegetables and fruits. Avacados are the worse, though. It sucks because I LOVE fresh guac but can’t eat it if it’s too fresh.
The funny thing is that this is an adult-onset allergy. As a kid I ate raw fruits all the time.
Bear in mind your region may differ; here, we’re all irrigated from the Colorado River. It’s split into canals, then to ditches, then finally trenches and piping systems. From my fields it goes back to ditches, then to canals and ultimately to someone else “down the pipe.”
Along the way, the water picks up all kinds of crap, from e. coli to giardia cysts.
Table maize that’s produced in the Grand Valley often gets dunked in this water, so each little corn pod could be a husk-covered petri dish, or a direct vector for a bad case of the trots. Further, many of the laborers who pick the mass produce have been tested positive for Hepatitis, but unlike a tomato or an apple, it’s very difficult to thoroughly clean your store-bought maize.
When I grow my own produce, I know where it’s been and how it’s been handled. And by mid-July, I’m just like mangeorge – stripped to skivvies and noshing on a giant ear of the sweetest stuff my earth can produce.