Find out how to Retailer Recent Corn on the Cob

The summer season of 2022 was peak candy corn for me. Not solely had Corn Child turn into a mini sensation, however I used to be additionally neck deep in recent farmers market corn for weeks on finish. This heavy corn food regimen began after I made a decision to make esquites with my haul. My household liked the dish a lot that I ended up making it each weekend for the remainder of the summer season. I’d head to the farmers market each Saturday, seize the freshest corn I might discover, and make the recipe for lunch or dinner that very same day—which meant I didn’t have to fret about methods to retailer the corn. 

This summer season, nevertheless, I’m exploring new methods to organize recent corn, so I usually discover myself selecting it up with out having a dish in thoughts, which typically means utilizing the corn a couple of days later. In fact this is not actually superb—our common recommendation about methods to retailer corn has at all times been…don’t. The ingredient’s taste and sweetness solely declines the longer you wait. However relying on the place you’re getting your corn, that recommendation can fluctuate. I spoke with Smoke-McCluskey, a Mohawk chef and proprietor of Corn Mafia, a micro-milling venture that explores native foodways, to study extra. 

What Occurs As Your Corn Sits

Due to its quick metabolic fee, corn can lose its candy taste rapidly when its sugars flip starchy. This has led to the age-old recommendation to take your corn straight from the sphere to the cooking pot. Nevertheless, the time that it takes for the corn’s flavors to show into starch is dependent upon the number of corn you’re coping with and the place you’re shopping for it. On the subject of candy corn—the kind that the majority Individuals are buying to eat on the cob and for recipes like corn ribs and Kansas Metropolis-style tacky corn—the period of time it’s a must to eat it comes down as to whether you’re getting it from an area farmer or the grocery retailer.

Snacks & Appetizers

Slathered Grilled Corn Ribs

cook dinner time:


30 minutes

serves:


4
to six

Grocery Retailer Corn vs. Farmers Market Corn

Harold McGee’s On Meals and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen notes that “in three days, conventional candy corn,” which is most regionally grown corn, “converts half of its candy sugar into tasteless chains,” giving off a taste that’s disliked by many. Commercially grown corn, nevertheless, has been bred into sweeter varieties that may stand up to the lengthy processing instances it takes to get from the farm to a warehouse after which on grocery retailer cabinets.  

“These days, with the brand new business candy corns, a few of these are designed to mature slowly,” says Smoke-McCluskey. “So the sugars begin to convert slightly bit slower than regular candy corn was, say, even a decade in the past. You possibly can depart it in your fridge for 5 or 6 days. It is most likely been 5 or 6 days out of the sphere [when you purchase it] and it is nonetheless candy whenever you’re consuming it, for probably the most half.“

Sadly, there’s probably not any method to inform what selection you’re selecting up on the grocery retailer; most are simply labeled as “candy corn.” “There are millions of types of corn,” says Smoke-McCluskey. For those who’re searching for corn at a farmers market, ask the farmer what they’re promoting and they need to be capable to provide you with extra info on the variability and the way a lot time you have got earlier than the standard drops off an excessive amount of. 

What to Look For When Shopping for Corn

Though it’s possible you’ll not be capable to determine what sort of corn you’re shopping for, there are some things to maintain a watch out for to ensure you’re selecting the perfect of the bunch. “I search for the plumpest kernels,” says Smoke-McCluskey. Editorial director Daniel Gritzer notes that the silk must be “moist and smooth, not brittle and dehydrated,” and Smoke-McCluskey provides that they need to be “sort of healthful wanting, not limp and mushy. I search for the husk to be a pleasant inexperienced and sort of vibrant wanting. I do not wish to see any tan to it in any respect, or it drying out.”

The Finest Strategy to Retailer Corn

For those who insist on storing your corn, you’ll be able to hold it in its husk and throw it in your fridge’s crisper drawer—the chilly slows down the conversion of sugars to extra complicated (and fewer candy) starches. Whereas it is at all times greatest to eat your corn as rapidly as you’ll be able to, you seemingly have a while, relying on the number of corn you have purchased and the place you have purchased it. Longer-lasting varieties (usually what you may discover on the grocery store today, but in addition grown by some native growers) can final an extra 5 to 6 days from buy if stored within the fridge. For those who’ve purchased corn that does not maintain onto its sweetness as lengthy, you may have to eat it sooner, wherever from one to 2 days after buy. If unsure, discuss to your produce supervisor or the farmer for extra steering.

Your greatest wager for storing corn long run is to freeze it. You are able to do this by blanching the corn in boiling water for one minute, chilling it quickly in ice water, after which chopping off its kernels. Unfold them throughout a baking sheet and place them in a freezer till frozen, earlier than transferring them to a zipper-lock bag which you’ll hold within the freezer for as much as three months.  

The Takeaway

Relying on the place you’re buying your candy corn, your choices for storage fluctuate. For those who’re shopping for shorter-lasting varieties (typically nonetheless offered at a farmers market), you’ll wish to use it as rapidly as doable, since one of these corn loses taste in a short time. For those who’re buying corn on the grocery retailer, you must be capable to use it inside rather less than every week earlier than its taste actually fades. Retailer it entire within the crisper drawer of your fridge, or reduce the kernels from the corn, blanch and freeze them, then retailer them in a zipper-lock bag for a most of three months.