Plated + Served: A Taste of Summer
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!
Sweet Summer Corn Salad you’ll need… let’s get to it… cooking know how…
prep: 20 minutes
cook: 10 minutes
5 cups corn, shucked and removed from the cob (1 ear equals roughly one cup)
1 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
1 cup finely minced white onion
1 cup chopped celery
½ cup sugar
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup safflower, canola or vegetable oil (olive oil is too heavy)
1 teaspoon salt
Place corn, bell pepper, onion and celery in a large bowl.
Heat the sugar and vinegar on medium heat until sugar dissolves, stirring often. Remove from heat and cool completely, about 20 minutes.
Pour cooled sugar-vinegar mixture over vegetables; add oil and sprinkle with salt.
Stir gently with a spatula to blend all of the ingredients, being careful not to break the corn kernels.
How to remove corn kernels from the cob: Shuck the corn, making sure you remove all of the silk strings. Cut off the stem to make a flat base. Stand the corn upright in a wide bowl. With a sharp knife, cut straight down, being careful to avoid cutting into the cob.
