In Season: Corn

The quintessential summer treat, sweet golden ears are ripe for the picking

August 15, 2008 at 9:30AM by Anita Crotty | comment

corn Corn aficionados tells stories about bringing camp stoves into the cornfield and bending an unpicked ear into the pot. Perhaps that's taking things to extremes, but -- even more than other vegetables -- corn is truly best eaten the day it's picked. When it's fresh, you don't really even need to cook corn: Just heat it 'n' eat it, as one of our local farmers market characters likes to say. Look for plump ears (there's no need to peel them; gently squeeze the tassel end to make sure it's full of mature kernels) and a still-damp stem.

I always make a point to eat the first few ears with nothing more than a little salted butter and fresh black pepper. But then, weeks into the season, the inevitable gilding of the lily sets in. Will it be the sinfully rich pasta with corn, sage, and pancetta from the Zuni Cafe cookbook, a silky corn custard with mushroom sauce, a savory corn chowder, a refreshing corn-and-avocado salad? Or perhaps even dessert: Sweet corn ice cream or corn cupcakes with brown-butter frosting, anyone?

And in case you need an excuse for another gadget in your life, check out the adorable Kuhn-Rikon Corn Zipper, or the less-cute (but equally useful) Oxo Good Grips Corn Stripper. Sure, you could just use a knife, but these little gizmos make getting corn off the cob an entertaining summer task.

comment

tags: corn custard, corn salad, gadgets, SOLE Food Digest, pasta, Zuni Cafe, dessert, summer, Corn Chowder, recipes, in season, corn

Comments

Anita Crotty

Anita Crotty is co-author of Married... with Dinner, an award-winning food blog that chronicles the continuing adventures of "a couple of San Francisco food dorks." Anita and her husband Cameron are both professional writers, amateur cooks, and avid diners.
read full bio.

see all posts by this author