Picking out the perfect ear of corn.

[hippywife]

'scuse me if'n my old hippie's disease is kicking in, so I'm not sure if we've talked about this before. I happened to think of it since it's the time of the year for corn at the farm markets. I stopped today and got a dozen large ears to blanch and freeze. I always see people standing there peeling back the husks. I haven't done that in probably 10 years and have never gotten a bad ear of corn yet.

In addition to the husk and the silk being still supple, if you look at the bottom of the ear and see a nice wide, almost boxy-looking base, buy it...it's a well formed, as near to perfect as you can get, ear of corn.

This method never fails. Really! :hi:

[NashVegas]

1. I Still Peel, Just a Little

Old habits die hard.

I look for ears that are full of smallish-but-plump well-formed kernels with a hint of translucence, bright green husk and deeply browned top silks. I also prefer honey & creme style.

[hippywife]

2. I've never had a problem

getting ears with really nice plump kernels. I bought 12 really big ears today and didn't peel a single one. Except for the usual really tiny dry nib at the top, every one of them was tender and gorgeous.

I just hate to see some of the really inconsiderate folks that come through and practically strip them from the husks and leave a mess behind them.

[NashVegas]

7. Yeah, Well

I don't strip them like that. Farm stand corn costs 2-3x as much as agri-business supermarket corn, here. If I bought some that turned out to be bland or starchy or even foul and / or tough from a seller who demanded I buy blind (and I've seen some that do), I wouldn't return to the place I bought it from. Better for the producer to lose 45 cents on the sale of one ear every great now and then than to lose my business altogether.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I never peel 'em to select 'em, either

I select 'em and then peel 'em at the market if there's a trash can nearby. If not, I take 'em home unpeeled. I peel 'em to a few layers of husk. The thin, moist, almost transparent husks right next to the ear. I also pull out what silk can be grabbed.

The I grill 'em in these thin husks until quite a few kernels are nicely browned and caramelized.

While I could throw away an ear if, after this kind of peeling, it isn't a good one, like you, I never have that problem. I look at the ear's base and feel it through the husk.

Yup. Works every time.

[eleny]

4. "almost boxy-looking base"

Gotcha, thanks! :hi:

[Tab]

5. Will have to check it out

Have always peeled back the top inch or two. If you have big fluffy kernels there, the rest is okay. If you have scrawny ones or bare spots, it gets passed up.

I'll continue doing that but I'll start comparing it to the base; if there's a correlation (not saying you're wrong) then that would save me a lot of trouble.

On the other hand, it's fun to peel the husk back a little bit. I get to see what the yellow/white mix is too. Up here it seems to be about 70% yellow with 30% white.

[hippywife]

6. I prefer yellow to white

so I just by the varieties I want and don't have to check for that. Like I said in the OP, even the closest to perfect ears will have a small portion of the very tip that is bare, but the rest always makes up for it. :hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I like to peel the husk back and pierce a kernel with my fingernail. I look

for a milky fluid which means that the corn is still young and flavorful. When it matures the kernels are dry and starchy which means an older, not so fresh ear. I was taught this method when I was growing up and we would be sent out into the corn patch to pick roasting ears for a meal.

[supernova]

9. I learned this too

We grew Silver Queen corn every year.

I look for a well-matted and browned silk on top and I open it just enough to see the kernels and check for cornworms or blight. Then I prick a kernel to see what the fluid looks like.

Man, I remember many years growing up, my mother and I would pick corn every morning, shuck it, clean it, and then get cooking. Some we ate on the ear. Others we cut the kernels off the cob, lightly cooked it, then put it away for freezing for winter.

Fun memories. :D

[yellerpup]

10. A friend who doesn't cook at all stripped all the corn in the supermarket

the last time we went shopping. She only gets interested in food when she knows I'm going to cook, or if she is invited out to dinner. If you want a smoothie, she's your gal...but, food? Fuggedabadit! I asked her what she was doing (I go by the same method as you, hippywife and only once got a worm in an ear) and she said she wanted to make sure we didn't get "the dirty ones." :hi:




"When the representative body have lost the confidence of their
constituents, when they have notoriously made sale of their most
valuable rights, when they have assumed to themselves powers
which the people never put into their hands, then, indeed, their
continuing in office becomes dangerous to the State, and calls
for an exercise of the power of dissolution." --Thomas Jefferson:
Rights of British America, 1774.

[Blue Gardener]

11. I poke a kernel

If I get squirted in the eye, I know it's fresh corn!

[sandnsea]

12. I used your strategy - delicious!!

Best corn we've had in years. Thanks!

[hippywife]

13. Glad it worked for you.

Best way I've found to pick 'em yet. :hi: