Sweet Corn How To

I hope many of you made it out this past weekend or week to your local farmer's market or road side stand and bought some of the bountiful summer produce. My father-in-law, Doug, was sure to tell me the best spot in town for buying sweet corn. I errored on the safe side and only bought a half dozen. Now, I am regretting my decision and  wish I would have bought a whole dozen. It was the perfect summer meal; a BLT with a little mayo and avocado on gluten-free French bread and a juicy ear of corn.

If you are a novice sweet corn buyer, you might be wondering, "How do I check to make sure the corn is good?" or "What do I do with it now?" Iowa friends, you might be thinking, "Duh! Just shuck it and boil it." But, there is a method and a way to perfectly cook sweet corn. Here are some of my pointers.

One of my favorite ways to insure that the corn is good is what my family calls the "pop test." To check and make sure your corn is legit, you can pull back some of the husk to expose the kernels and pop one of the kernels with your thumbnail. It should make a light popping noise eliciting sweet, juicy corn milk. See?

Next, you will first need to "shuck" your corn. This requires you to pull off the green leaves, or husk, and remove the corn silk. This can be kind of messy, so you may want to shuck your corn over the sink or outside over a trashcan. After removing the husk and a majority of the silk, you can use a soft brush to get any remaining pieces of silk of the corn. Here is a picture of my corn brush. They do actually make these and they are relatively cheap. I got mine at a kitchen supply store.

After your corn is silk-free, fill a large stock pot with about two inches of water. If you are making more, you can plan on 3 to 4 inches of water. Add your corn.

Next, cover the pot and bring the water to a boil.

Once the water is boiling, remove the pot from the heat and keep the pot covered until you are ready to serve. No need to boil for several minutes! The less the corn boils, the better. It will be perfectly juicy and tender-crisp.

You know those little prickly corn holders? Those are handy too. I know you will probably only need them once a year, but they do make eating corn on the cob a lot easier. You can serve your corn with butter, salt, and pepper. I happen to like mine straight up no salt, no butter. If you follow these simple steps, I find there is no need to make any additions.