RAW CORN ON THE COB — SUPERSWEET AND TASTY!!!
Wow! It’s been WAY too long since my last blog post!! And I’ve had SO many good food experiences that I can’t wait to tell you about!! Some of the highlights are Famous Daves’ Hot Mess BBQ Sundae (layers of beans, pork, coleslaw, BBQ Sauce and cornbread) that was so devilishly delicious at Ford Arts, Beats & Eats, a Reuben appetizer at a family party, Apple Pie on the Rocks that I found on Pinterest from Vegan Yack Attack (http://veganyackattack.com/2013/12/03/apple-pie-on-the-rocks/) and a mellow Maple Tea I picked up at the Duty Free store in Windsor PLUS the best sweet corn I’ve had in my life … and it was UNCOOKED!
Since this is too much for one post, the focus here will be on the corn.
There’s a vegetable stand about a mile from my house that sells flowers, fruits and vegetables including SUPERSWEET FRESH CORN!
Now I don’t know about you, but when I buy corn I peel it down a little bit to make sure it looks good and so on my first visit of the year to this farm stand I headed to the corn and began to do just that when the boss farmer sitting on the end of the corn stand asked me, “Have you ever had our corn before?” To which I replied, “Yes, it’s very good.” He inquisitively continued, “How are you going to cook it?” Well, I hesitated because I knew my favorite easy way to cook corn in my Tupperware container meant specifically for microwaving corn (I know, it sounds gross, but it gives prefect results without fail) was not going to fly with this old school guy. Thankfully, he really didn’t want to hear how I was going to cook my corn, he just wanted to tell me how to cook it. And so I listened, and I learned.
He told me to NOT peel the corn because most of the corn’s flavor is gone 20 minutes after you peel it. Instead he said to cut the ends of the corn off so they’re flat and the boil it in the husks, cornsilk and all, for 5 – 6 minutes and then run each ear under cold water, and then peel the husk … and everything easily comes off… and because it wasn’t peeled, no flavor is lost, but rather enhanced because it was all cooked intact!!! This was an easy way to get all that corn hair to come off easily and the corn was done perfectly! I’m so glad I stopped when I did because I never saw the boss farmer on subsequent visits.
Oh. I almost forgot about the uncooked part! Before I got my “corn cooking” lesson my mentor grabbed a cob of corn, peeled the husk back slightly and handed it to me with the order to taste it…which having never eaten uncooked corn on the cob before I answered “RAW?” and so there I stood noshing on a raw corn cob handed to me by a stranger… and it was so sweet and so juicy and so good! I was afraid if it were cooked it’d ruin the flavor!!! And I was told that from this day forward I was NEVER to buy corn ANYWHERE without first tasting it… ok I agreed but while this is acceptable practice at the corner farmer’s stand, I’m not so sure how it will go over in the typical public grocery store… and I’m not sure I want to find out… partly because I think I’d feel kind of strange peeling and eating next to my cart but MOSTLY because I know the corn will never meet the excellent level of freshness, juiciness and tastiness of boss farmers’ corn!