No shucking around on this corny tale
We have arrived at one of my favorite seasons of the year. It’s corn time.
“Our sweet corn is very good this year,’ reported Christopher Powell of Strasburg in Lancaster County, in a Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program press release.
I get those press packages every year about this time, alerting me to the fact that in many parts of the state, the fresh, on-the-cob sweet corn season is moving into full swing.
I think there are many people who share my enthusiasm for the succulently sweet rowed ears of kernels. I like eating corn in just about any form: it can be frozen, canned, dried, baked, boiled, etc., but fresh and just-picked is my favorite.
I have been known to chew out a couple of mouthfuls raw from the first appealing peeled cob I lay my hands on.
And no matter how hot the day might be, I won’t shrink from steaming the kitchen up more by cooking a pot full of the stuff. (That’s what air conditioning is for, right?).
Accompanying my corny press kit each year are also a number of recipes relating some obvious and maybe not-so-obvious ways to present the delicacy. For example, in this year’s kit there are corny cream of crab soup (I doubt if I try that – I’m not a big seafood lover); roasted corn and salsa cheesecake (that’s one I will likely attempt to make); corn and potato stuff Portobello cups and sweet corn salsa salad in cornbread cups.
I can’t remember when I developed my love for the stuff. As far back as I have memory I have enjoyed eating corn in many of its varieties. It’s my favorite vegetable.
I prefer the yellow super sweet but have no aversions to nibbling on niblets; chewing down some shopeg; or slavering butter on some silver queen.
There is one area farm that produced some of the finest and sweetest corn I have ever eaten. That was several years ago and they haven’t planted it again, rotating to other types. I’m hoping the super sweet was on the planting agenda this year.
And, every year when my lovely wife buys her flats of flowers to dress the place up, I always manage to put in at least one packet of sweet corn seeds. Not that I can plant them. We don’t have enough space in our yard.
And, I know my wife would not appreciate staring at corn stalks straining skyward for a few months of the year.
I think the urge to grow my own harkens to growing up in the country. Dad always planted a garden, usually the majority of which was in corn. He put in a sizeable plot, large enough that I could pick and sell some to make a little extra spending money when I was a kid. The going price for 12 ears in those days was 50 cents. Last year I bought some for $2.50 a dozen. Not much of a price gain in four decades, huh? I wish gasoline followed the same pattern.
I suppose there can’t be much else as native to this country as corn. The Indians lived off it and taught the early settlers how to plant it in order to survive their first years here.
But where there’s corn there’s usually one of those disgusting little worms. So here’s the one in this tale: My press kit arrived via U.S. mail inside a plastic envelop that bore the logo, “Made in Canada.’
Made in Canada? The Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program couldn’t find a mailer produced in the state or even the country?
What’s next? TV sets from Japan?
Sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. It’s just that I caught my tongue firmly in cheek, if you know what I mean.
Enjoy the harvest.
Have a good day.
James Pletcher Jr. is business editor of the Herald-Standard and can be reached at 724-439-7571 or email jpletcher@heraldstandard.com