primitives discuss unsweet sweet corn

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x67850

Oh my.

Another perilous primitive predicament:

Love Bug  (1000+ posts)        Sat Aug-15-09 03:27 PM
Original message
 
What if the sweet corn isn't sweet?

I bought some bi-color sweet corn from the farmer's market last week and when I cooked it, it wasn't sweet at all. In fact, it didn't seem to have much flavor. I would just chalk it up to bad luck if a friend of mine didn't have the very same experience. Up until the beginning of August we've been having an unusually cool (70s) summer. Would that be the cause?

Tesha  (1000+ posts)      Sat Aug-15-09 04:55 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. well
 
When freshly picked, sweet corn is high in sugar and low in starch. However, the longer it sits after picking, the more that balance shifts toward starches. This mutes the flavor and affects it's texture when cooked.

If I have any doubts I just add a little sugar to the cooking water...

The defrocked warped primitive:

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Sat Aug-15-09 05:43 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. I second the sugar in the water unless the water is boiling while you pick it off the stalk in the back yard.

The Rita Hayworth primitive:

Tangerine LaBamba  (1000+ posts)       Sat Aug-15-09 05:59 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. Luck of the draw - we got some terrific sweet corn earlier in the summer, at the market - grown in Florida. It was shockingly good.

Last week, we got some that wasn't very good, but a neighbor reminded me that our local corn doesn't come in until August.

If it's not good, nothing can make it good. I think it's just the luck of the draw.

My friend bought a beautiful watermelon from a roadside stand - just glorious, grown by a lovely old man. It had not taste.

I bought some locally-grown cantaloupes, wanting to support all things local. No taste. They both got tossed.

Maybe things just aren't very good this season? All that rain has, I know, affected the local tomatoes and potatoes........................

The imperious primitive:

The empressof all   (1000+ posts)        Sat Aug-15-09 06:03 PM
Response to Original message
 
4. It really is just luck and freshness but...

I have found that if I add about a half a cup of milk to the water it helps to draw out the sweetness. I haven't a clue why...maybe the milk sugars or the lactic acid...But try it...You'll taste a difference

The sparkling husband primitive, who would be wise to watch what his wife puts into the sweet corn:

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Sat Aug-15-09 08:26 PM
Response to Original message
 
5. Every ear we've had for the last two years has been - at the very least - edible

We grill the corn in the husk. Just peel it back until you can see the kernels through a few layers of husk. Grill it until the husk is well charred. It often catches fire near the end. A little carmelization on the kernels tells you it is done. This seems to concentrate the flavor by eliminating excess moisture that can dilute whatever sugar is in the ear.

When done they look like this on the outside:

after which a photograph of burnt corn

And like this on the inside:

after which another photograph of burnt corn

We eat it completely unadorned ..... no butter, no salt, no nothing. It is always *that* good.

Tesha  (1000+ posts)      Sat Aug-15-09 09:34 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
6. I've tried grilling corn a couple ot times..
 
but the corn always gets concentrated, drier, and the darned kernels stick to my teeth!

I love the steamed in a pressure cooker or boiled - in fact I usually add some Old Bay crab boil seasoning along with a spoonful of sugar (even if I'm not making a crab boil).

mmmm, local corn is just now coming in here... getting some tomorrow.

The wired gassy primitive, at the farmette up in Wisconsin:

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Sat Aug-15-09 09:40 PM
Response to Original message
 
7. I always put sugar in corn water

Cuz I never get any same-day corn.

Even so, some corn is just lousy despite its looks.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Sun Aug-16-09 12:05 AM
Response to Reply #7
 
8. Even crappy corn tastes pretty good with

Barbara Tropp's Szechuan pepper salt.

Toast a tablespoon full of Szechuan peppercorns and a half cup of Kosher salt in a dry skillet. Remove from heat when it's fragrant and the salt has absorbed some of the oils and turned a very slightly darker color. Let cool and buzz in a blender until powdered.

This stuff is so great on corn you'll never miss the butter...or the sweetness.

[thundley4]

The sweetest sweet corn comes from Monsanto.

Just sayin'. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

We had a cool, wet summer here, I do have to say it adversely affected the flavor of the blackberries (Also delayed them by a couple of weeks, they are normally peaking for a week after the 4th but this year it was more like the third/fourth week of July.  Plump but watery and damn' near flavorless (They need bright sun for the sugar to form at ripening), fortunately I still have a couple of gallons frozen from last year.

Damn you, Anthropogenic Global Warming, why must you make summers so cold and wet?!?