The way to Retailer Contemporary Corn on the Cob

The summer season of 2022 was peak candy corn for me. Not solely had Corn Kid turn into a mini sensation, however I used to be additionally neck deep in contemporary farmers market corn for weeks on finish. This heavy corn weight loss program began after I made a decision to make esquites with my haul. My household cherished 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 easy methods to retailer the corn. 

This summer season, nonetheless, I’m exploring new methods to arrange contemporary corn, so I typically discover myself choosing it up with out having a dish in thoughts, which generally means utilizing the corn just a few days later. After all this is not actually very best—our general advice about easy methods to retailer corn has all the time 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 range. I spoke with Smoke-McCluskey, a Mohawk chef and proprietor of Corn Mafia, a micro-milling undertaking that explores native foodways, to be taught extra. 

What Occurs As Your Corn Sits

Due to its fast metabolic rate, 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 sector to the cooking pot. Nonetheless, 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 sweet corn—the kind that the majority People are buying to eat on the cob and for recipes like corn ribs and Kansas City-style cheesy corn—the period of time you need to eat it comes down as to if you’re getting it from an area farmer or the grocery retailer.

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 domestically grown corn, “converts half of its candy sugar into tasteless chains,” giving off a taste that’s disliked by many. Commercially grown corn, nonetheless, has been bred into sweeter varieties that may face up to the lengthy processing occasions 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 just a little bit slower than regular candy corn was, say, even a decade in the past. You possibly can go away it in your fridge for 5 or 6 days. It is most likely been 5 or 6 days out of the sector [when you purchase it] and it is nonetheless candy if you’re consuming it, for probably the most half.“

Sadly, there’s not likely any option to inform what selection you’re choosing up on the grocery retailer; most are simply labeled as “candy corn.” “There are millions of forms of corn,” says Smoke-McCluskey. When you’re looking for corn at a farmers market, ask the farmer what they’re promoting and they need to have the ability to provide you with extra data on the range and the way a lot time you may have earlier than the standard drops off an excessive amount of. 

What to Look For When Shopping for Corn

Though you could not have the ability to determine what kind of corn you’re shopping for, there are some things to maintain an eye fixed out for to be sure to’re choosing one of the best of the bunch. “I search for the plumpest kernels,” says Smoke-McCluskey. Editorial director Daniel Gritzer notes that the silk ought to be “moist and smooth, not brittle and dehydrated,” and Smoke-McCluskey provides that they need to be “type of healthful wanting, not limp and mushy. I search for the husk to be a pleasant inexperienced and type of vibrant wanting. I do not wish to see any tan to it in any respect, or it drying out.”

The Finest Technique to Retailer Corn

When you insist on storing your corn, you possibly can preserve it in its husk and throw it in your fridge’s crisper drawer—the chilly slows down the conversion of sugars to extra advanced (and fewer candy) starches. Whereas it is all the time greatest to eat your corn as rapidly as you possibly can, you possible have a while, relying on the number of corn you have purchased and the place you have purchased it. Longer-lasting varieties (typically what you will discover on the grocery store nowadays, but in addition grown by some native growers) can final an extra 5 to 6 days from buy if stored within the fridge. When you’ve purchased corn that does not maintain onto its sweetness as lengthy, you will have to eat it sooner, anyplace from one to 2 days after buy. If doubtful, speak to your produce supervisor or the farmer for extra steerage.

Your greatest guess 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 preserve 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 range. When you’re shopping for shorter-lasting varieties (generally nonetheless bought at a farmers market), you’ll wish to use it as rapidly as doable, since this kind of corn loses taste in a short time. When you’re buying corn on the grocery retailer, it’s best to have the ability to use it inside rather less than every week earlier than its taste really fades. Retailer it entire within the crisper drawer of your fridge, or minimize the kernels from the corn, blanch and freeze them, then retailer them in a zipper-lock bag for a most of three months.