Plated + Served: A Taste of Summer

August15

Some of you cursed all of the heat and rain we’ve had this summer, but boy are we reaping the benefits now, with some of the sweetest, most delicious corn Mama has ever tasted.

If you want to know what freshness tastes like, bite into a plump ear of corn picked that same morning. Don’t boil it. Don’t steam it. Just pull back the husks and dig in. We couldn’t wait. We chowed down at the farmer’s market (and believe me, we weren’t alone).

You’ll taste the warm summer sun with each sweet, crunchy mouthful.

It’s best to try to eat corn the same day that you buy it (particularly if you find it in a farmer’s market). Storing sweet corn will destroy the taste because the natural sugars turn to starch. If you have to store it, leave it in the husks (that’s nature’s own freshness package) and put it in a perforated plastic bag in the fridge for no more than 2 days. 

Grandma Boettcher

One of my favorite ways to prepare fresh corn is this recipe Grandma Boettcher shared with me a long time ago. You don’t cook the corn… you just cut it off the cob and throw it into a bowl with the other ingredients. It’s perfectly safe to eat raw corn. But that’s why you want to make sure it’s fresh… you don’t want to miss out on the succulent sweetness.

In her recipe, Grandma Boettcher used shoepeg corn, a white, sweet and mild corn grown primarily in the South. I’ve found that any fresh sweet corn is just as delicious. I used Mirai®, a sweet corn developed in Harvard, Illinois.

Grandma Boettcher used to say “I could make a meal out of this salad.” You will, too, if your corn is freshly picked… and you don’t eat the corn right off the cob in the farmer’s market before you even get home!

Summer Corn Salad

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Hi…
I’m Christina Chavez

I was a TV journalist for many years, but with a house full of kids I decided to come off the road, go to culinary school and follow my passion for cooking. Mama’s High Strung is all about food… everything from creative recipe ideas to some really cool kitchen gadgets and cooking tips. I live in Chicago, but I love to travel and write about my food discoveries! You can reach me by email: mamashighstrung@gmail.com