CELEBRATE SWEETCORN
Diana Henry makes good use of golden corn kernels
This really dates me, but I can remember when ‘corn on the cob’ was a fancy new vegetable. We’d had the canned stu – I still like Green Giant – but once you could buy cobs, my mum got special long plates for them and little spears to push in each end. Because of this extravagance – who has plates for corn? – we ate it fairly regularly, doused in melted butter with lots of cracked black pepper on top. As you sank your teeth into a cob, the kernels popped, releasing sweet juices that mixed with the salty butter, making it seem like a vegetable that was delicious – and, with all that popping, still alive.
Sweetness is the point of corn. Like fresh peas, the cobs need to be cooked quickly because as soon as they’re picked, the sugar starts to turn to starch. American friends tell me you should really run straight from the field where you’ve picked the corn to a pan of boiling water. It sounds like something out of The Waltons
– ‘Hey, catch the corn, Jim Bob!’ – and I’m not sure anyone does this, but I do know that there’s no comparison between the corn you eat o the cob and the stu that comes in cans. I still buy canned and frozen corn, but the first time I ate roasted kernels, I was hooked. Sweetness is all very well, but combined with the nutty, toasted flavour that develops in the oven, you have something irresistible. I toast kernels in a dry frying pan too, before adding butter.
Because it’s such an easy veg, like peas, corn gets downgraded. When my sons were little, I saw it as a vegetable for children. For years, I always had a bag of corn in the freezer, alongside the peas and cubes of frozen purées for toddlers. Now, corn has grown-up status. Its sweetness goes well with salty or acidic flavours, such as feta, parmesan and cheddar, tomatoes, bacon, soured cream, spring onions and green chillies. Combining it with maple syrup might seem like overkill, but it pairs well with sweet ingredients, too – and nothing tastes more of America than corn, maple syrup and bacon served together.
Before I’d done it, I thought that removing the kernels from the cob would be a fa , but you only need a knife. Stand the cob upright in a roasting tin and slice the kernels o in strips, working from top to bottom and turning it round after you’ve done a strip. I like it best when the kernels stick together – when roasted, the strips slightly curl up, making them look like strange sea creatures – but don’t worry if they separate.
September is my favourite month to eat corn. We’re poised between the warmth of summer and the mists of autumn, perfect for sweet, toasty flavours.