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> I associate it most strongy with grilling it in the husk in
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> several backyards on the Colorado western slope one summer.
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I spent most of my early life in Nebraska and Kansas, and so for
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me the best experience of the stuff has always been summer
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harvests of sweetcorn, ideally prepared shortly after picking by
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shucking, washing the silks off in cold water, & boiling for
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7-10 minutes in a big pot. Serve with butter and salt (butter
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usually to be applied by rolling the ear of corn lengthwise on
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the stick, though I had an uncle who preferred to apply butter
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to bread first and then roll the corn on the bread). I remember
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a lot of meals consisting of essentially nothing but sweetcorn,
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half a dozen ears or so to a person.
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I suppose this wasn't super healthy, but there's nothing quite
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like the texture and flavor of really fresh corn on the cob, and
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very little that can be done to genuinely improve upon it. Then
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too, I live in front range Colorado now, and have spent time on
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the western slope. It always seems to me that the local
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sweetcorn chauvinism is innocent enough, but a little
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inexperienced. By the time it hits grocery stores and farm
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stands, it's usually tough as nails.
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I guess what I'm really saying is: If you live in a climate
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that supports it, plant sweetcorn. There's no substitute for
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fresh. I am often sad that Colorado doesn't seem to be a place
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where I'm capable of growing decent corn (see also: tomatoes,
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carrots which don't taste like dirt, basically anything that
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isn't some kind of kale).
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*
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Not that grilling it in the husk is bad. Nice change of pace.
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Great for camping.
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I had this really bad experience one time at a party where I got
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yelled at by the older, richer, much more employed host for
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putting out a flaming corn cob in his new swimming pool. The
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less said about that, the better, probably. (What can I say; I
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was like 22 and probably kind of drunk. It was humiliating.)
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*
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We used to grow a _lot_ of corn, by garden plot standards, and
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we'd usually have more than we could realistically eat while
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fresh. My parents often still do. My mom's canned it before,
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but the handiest way to preserve it seems to be to boil as usual
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and then cut off in strips and freeze in plastic bags. Assuming
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you've got the freezer space, this works out great for soups,
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casseroles, pizza, you name it.
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They also make a lot of creamed corn. It's really good, and
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I'll have to see if I can get the recipe, though I'll bet it's
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just a variation of something they got from Alton Brown. They
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are way into Alton Brown.
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-- bpb
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