The summer time of 2022 was peak candy corn for me. Not solely had Corn Child develop into a mini sensation, however I used to be additionally neck deep in recent farmers market corn for weeks on finish. This heavy corn weight-reduction plan began after I made a decision to make esquites with my haul. My household liked the dish a lot that I ended up making it each weekend for the remainder of the summer time. I might head to the farmers market each Saturday, seize the freshest corn I may discover, and make the recipe for lunch or dinner that very same day—which meant I didn’t have to fret about the right way to retailer the corn. 

This summer time, nonetheless, I’m exploring new methods to organize recent corn, so I typically discover myself selecting it up with out having a dish in thoughts, which typically means utilizing the corn a number of days later. In fact this is not actually ideally suited—our common recommendation about the right way to retailer corn has at all times 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 quick metabolic charge, corn can lose its candy taste shortly 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. Nevertheless, the time that it takes for the corn’s flavors to show into starch depends upon the number of corn you’re coping with and the place you’re shopping for it. Relating to candy corn—the kind that the majority People are buying to eat on the cob and for recipes like corn ribs and Kansas Metropolis-style tacky corn—the period of time you need to eat it comes down as to whether you’re getting it from a neighborhood farmer or the grocery retailer.

Snacks & Appetizers

Slathered Grilled Corn Ribs

prepare dinner time:


30 minutes

serves:


4
to six

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 industrial 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 may go away it in your fridge for 5 or 6 days. It is in all probability been 5 or 6 days out of the sector [when you purchase it] and it is nonetheless candy once you’re consuming it, for probably the most half.“

Sadly, there’s probably not any strategy to inform what selection you’re selecting up on the grocery retailer; most are simply labeled as “candy corn.” “There are literally thousands of forms of corn,” says Smoke-McCluskey. In the event you’re searching for corn at a farmers market, ask the farmer what they’re promoting and they need to be capable to provide you with extra data on the variability and the way a lot time you could have earlier than the standard drops off an excessive amount of. 

What to Look For When Shopping for Corn

Though chances are you’ll not be capable to establish what kind of corn you’re shopping for, there are some things to maintain an eye fixed out for to be sure you’re selecting the most effective of the bunch. “I search for the plumpest kernels,” says Smoke-McCluskey. Editorial director Daniel Gritzer notes that the silk must be “moist and tender, not brittle and dehydrated,” and Smoke-McCluskey provides that they need to be “form of healthful trying, not limp and mushy. I search for the husk to be a pleasant inexperienced and form of vibrant trying. I do not need to see any tan to it in any respect, or it drying out.”

The Greatest Solution to Retailer Corn

In the event you insist on storing your corn, you’ll be able to preserve it in its husk and throw it in your fridge’s crisper drawer—the chilly slows down the conversion of sugars to extra complicated (and fewer candy) starches. Whereas it is at all times finest to eat your corn as shortly as you’ll be able to, you probably 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 today, but in addition grown by some native growers) can final an extra 5 to 6 days from buy if stored within the fridge. In the event you’ve purchased corn that does not maintain onto its sweetness as lengthy, you will must eat it sooner, anyplace from one to 2 days after buy. If doubtful, discuss to your produce supervisor or the farmer for extra steering.

Your finest wager 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 slicing 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 be able to 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. In the event you’re shopping for shorter-lasting varieties (typically nonetheless bought at a farmers market), you’ll need to use it as shortly as attainable, since the sort of corn loses taste in a short time. In the event you’re buying corn on the grocery retailer, you need to be capable to use it inside rather less than every week earlier than its taste really fades. Retailer it complete within the crisper drawer of your fridge, or lower the kernels from the corn, blanch and freeze them, then retailer them in a zipper-lock bag for a most of three months.