#corn trivia

I am a corn snob.

I was born and raised in the Corn Belt, and our family’s life seemed to revolve around how the corn was doing from the time the seed went into the ground until harvest. I would hear the worry in my father’s voice when he talked about how the weather affected the farmers and their cornfields – it seemed like it was always either too wet or too dry. My dad was a plant breeder, and I knew all the corn trivia and lingo at a young age.

My brothers and I grew up working in cornfields in Central Illinois. Starting at 13 years old, every summer we would pile into school busses at 7am (excessively early) and head to the country. We would part the rustling leaves and make our way into the cold, dewy rows of corn. By 9am it was already hot and humid and the pollen was flying. I tied up my long blonde hair, swatted off the bugs and dealt with slimy aphids. There was nothing glamorous about it. I detasseled, but my brothers had more interesting jobs - they worked in the hybrid research fields shoot bagging, tassel bagging, and hand pollinating.

We ate a ton of sweet corn, but the Corn Belt primarily produces field corn. We worked in fields where the corn plants grew to be nine feet tall.

I came up with some corn trivia last night. Some of it pertains to corn in general, and some points refer only to sweet corn. I realize it will probably only appeal to other corn geeks like me.

Corn trivia

There’s no such thing as a “piece” of corn. This bugs me no end. There are ears of corn and kernels of corn.

When the growth appears that will become an ear, it’s called a shoot.

One corn plant can produce between two and four ears of corn. The variation depends on the length of the growing season, the hybrid, the weather (temperature, rainfall), and field management.

Every ear of corn has an even number of rows.

Corn kernels grow on a cob.

An individual kernel is a seed.

Ears of corn are wrapped in leaves called husks.

Removing the husks from the ear is called shucking or husking.

The thin, hair like strands that grow out of the ear are silks.

The yellow, flowery top of the corn plant is a tassel. When the tassel matures, wind releases its pollen, which pollinates the silks on the ears.

The tassel actually grows through the entire plant, but only appears at the top.

Every corn kernel has a corresponding silk. The development of the kernel is dependent on the silk being pollinated.

Corn is a member of the grass family.

Little plants that come from the base of the corn plant are suckers. It’s best to cut those little suckers off when they’re small with something we called a *rogue hook.

If you stand in a cornfield in the heat of the day, you can hear the corn grow – it makes a popping sound.

Little kids who venture unattended into cornfields can easily get disoriented and lost. This used to happen almost every year when the company my dad worked for had their annual summer party at the research acres.

You can get a paper cut from a corn leaf.

It’s fun to braid corn silks.

One ear of sweet corn yields about 1/2-cup of kernels.

*Bean farmers rogue their fields from time to time for volunteer corn plants. They call these same tools bean hooks.

Just my opinion…

I grew up believing that the top ear of the plant tastes the best.

A corncob does not taste good, so despite what some recipes say, cooking a cob with stews or soups does not add a good flavor, it’s just stupid.

It doesn’t take long to cook an ear of corn. Think about it – each kernel is about 7mm by 7mm. Put the ears of corn in pot of boiling water and after the water comes back to a boil let it cook for 2 or 3 minutes. I have no idea why most of what you read says to cook corn for 10 minutes or longer. (Possibly because they’re cooking overly ripe, old corn, or they think it’s important to cook the cob, which is also stupid.)

It’s just my opinion, but most people seek out corn that’s too mature. A mature ear will have big, busting kernels that are crammed together and have a gluey texture. Young ears have kernels that pop when you bite them and they’re sweet and crisp.

I only buy corn when it’s fresh locally and I know it was picked that same day. I am too spoiled to buy corn off-season from some far away country (like California). Sauvie Island near Portland, Oregon grows incredible sweet corn and I always look forward to making the trip there for some fresh corn. It’s in season right now. 

We never fiddled with fancy pants corn holders that you poke into each end of the cob, or devices specifically created to butter the ear. Just butter it, put some salt on it, pick it up and eat it. Napkins required.

Two corn stories

Every summer when I was little, we would receive huge crates of corn to process. My mom and my three brothers and I would take it into our basement and shuck it, blanch it, cut it off the cob and put it in plastic bags. It would go from field to freezer all within a day. It was a lot of work, mostly by my mother, but we ate that delicious corn all year long. I grew up naively thinking that all corn tasted that good.

My parents used to have big, sweet corn parties outdoors in the summer. I remember two particular guests that could eat as many as a dozen ears apiece. A few times, I had the busy job of cooking the corn and then hotfooting it outside to the guests, trading it for the big bowls heaped with corncobs, then repeating it again, and again. We also served platters of fresh, sliced tomatoes from our garden and burgers on the grill. Those were epic parties.