One of the best things about living in Madison County, Illinois is underway right now -- the Sweet Corn
harvest.
Well, to be absolutely accurate, at this moment in time we have bi-color corn (that referes to a cob with a mixture of both the white and the yellow kernals, not the vegetable's personal orientation) and yellow corn. The pure white sweet corn is still cookin' on the stalks.
Today, after our office's tour of our newly listed homes, I stopped by Keller's farm stand on Highway 157 between Edwardsville and Glen Carbon. I bought six ears of bi-color. Next door at Norma's, I also bought tasty Arkansas tomatoes (Ours are coming, can't wait.), fresh green beans and new potatoes. Fournie's, another home-grown operation, is located on Horseshoe Lake Road between Collinsville and Granite City. It's worth a stop as well, but wasn't on my driving trajectory today.
I'm usually a corn boiler. After removing the corn shucks and silks, you fill a large pot with water, bring it to a boil and put your corn in for about 10 minutes. Some folks like to turn the heat off as soon as the corn goes into the pot and others let it boil for a while, risking chewiness. My 91-year-old mother-in-law likes to add a wee bit of sugar to the water as well. I think that's redundant because the corn is so sweet by itself, but I don't tell her that. At 91, you're certainly entitled to your own opinion. (She also calls yellow corn "Horse Corn" and turns her nose up at it. I think it reminds her of what they fed to Old Billy, the buggy horse on their Chouteau Island farm along the Mississippi River when she was a child.)
Today, however, I Googled "corn" and "microwave." I was feeling a little lazy and a little hungry. One of the Internet recipe sites informed me that you can simply wrap an ear in waxed paper, twist the ends and nuke it for two minutes. If you're cooking two ears, make it three minutes. Where have I been? I may never boil again.
Today's corn was moist and firm and the niblets popped like farmstand caviar when I bit into them. Butter wasn't even necessary -- just a little kosher flake salt from Trader Joe's and I was good to go.
Don't miss this opportunity for a little golden, bi- and white sunshine -- now playing at a farm stand or farmers' market in Madison County.
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