sweet corn time

From agrarian — Blog by Mark Hall

August 13, 2009

It’s been a long wait here in Ontario (Canada) for our annual sweet corn bonanza.

Cold, dark “summer” days most of July and early August have held back the golden kernels around here (Tomatoes too).

I don’t grow any myself -- the raccoons always get it first -- although they haven’t attacked the strawberry popcorn I planted this year.

Instead, we have to wait for my neighbour George, whose farm backs on ours, to have his corn ready for market. He tried to time the first ripening for the Civic Holiday Weekend -- the first weekend in August. He gets a lot of business from city people heading along the county road on their way to Collingwood and Wasaga Beach.

Yesterday, his kids hauled out the road signs and the tent canopy has gone up outside his farm. Today’s the day the sweet corn comes in!

How to cook it?

• Bring a big pot of water to boil.
• Drop in the shucked corn and pull it out nine minutes later. (some people have different times; others say you don’t start timing it till the water boils again.)
• Add butter, salt and pepper.

And what’s with all these people who buy sweet corn in the supermarkets and insist on shucking it there? For the past few years the stores have had to provide large bins for the stuff people want to leave behind. Hope it gets composted but I doubt it.