—Garrison Keillor
Golden yellow, silver-white, bicolor, red, or blue—choosing the perfect ear of sweet summer corn has more to do with personal preferences and regional availability than with the quality of one variety over another. “Bicolor corn seems to be the most popular with our customers these days, but some other varieties are just as good,” affirms Tonya Martisko, owner of Gaeddert Farms in Buhler, Kan.
One thing all cooks can agree on is that corn should be sweet, so ask farmers’ market vendors for a taste of a raw ear, says Martisko.“If the taste isn’t good and sweet when the corn is raw, it’s not going to be better when it’s cooked. I know because we eat a lot of raw corn in the summer to test our crops.”
How to buy and store
• “Check the ears for nice green color and silk on the top that looks pale and moist, not dry or moldy,” Martisko advises. Yellowing husks and droopy silk are signs the corn was picked
a while ago.
• Avoid ears with kernels that look dented or dry. “Kernels should look like the juice would drip out of them if you popped them,” Martisko says. (Just don’t pop the kernels for real—a pet peeve of growers.)
• Ask the grower when the corn was picked and if it has been refrigerated. “Corn needs to be cooled after it’s picked to stay fresh, unlike some other vegetables that you can leave in the heat all day,” Martisko explains, so be sure to put the ears you buy in the fridge as soon as possible.
Chef’s tip
“My favorite way to eat corn is to spread it with umeboshi paste, a Japanese pickled plum condiment that’s salty-sweet and a tad sour. I love its dramatic flavor and vibrant pinkish-red color.”
—Ann Gentry, Vegetarian Times executive chef and owner of vegan eatery Real Food Daily
By Mary Margaret Chappell, Vegetarian Times Food Editor
Posted by Jolia Sidona Allen, Vegetarian Times Associate/Web Editor
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