How to Cook Fresh Corn

Liz Vaccariello: Hi, I'm Liz, editor of Prevention and today, you're in the kitchen with Liz and Leah Nichols, the director of food services for our Pennsylvania offices.

Leah, I'm really in the shopping at the farmers’ market. I love to go there on a Sunday afternoon but there's always so much there. I never know what to buy and what to do with it so.

Leah Nichols: Well, you know what's a great thing to buy? And it’s really kid friendly, too.

Liz Vaccariello: Yeah.

Leah Nichols: Fresh corn!

Liz Vaccariello: Oh, okay.

Leah Nichols: And I can tell you exactly how to choose the best ear of corn, how to prepare it, and I even brought a long special corn gadget.

Liz Vaccariello: Awesome. That’s great.

Leah Nichols: So the trickiest thing about buying it at farmer’s market is to figure out which ear of corn to buy. So most people when they go up to the stand will pull back the husk to see if it’s good or not, and that’s a surefire way to get one angry farmer.

Liz Vaccariello: Okay, good to know.

Leah Nichols: If you pull back the husk, the corn will dry out and it won’t be any good.

Liz Vaccariello: Oh, and then somebody else won’t buy it.

Leah Nichols: That’s right. So what you want to do is just basically take your thumb and feel the tip and if you feel nice juicy little corn nibblets, then that’s a keeper and you would want to hang on to it.

Liz Vaccariello: Good, that’s a great tip.

Leah Nichols: Yup, and you also want to make sure that the husks are not dried out and they’re nice and green.

Liz Vaccariello: Okay.

Leah Nichols: Okay, so once you buy the corn, you want to make it—cook it within a couple of days because that’s when it’s at its peak of freshness, alright.

Liz Vaccariello: Oh good, okay.

Leah Nichols: And if you're not going to use it right away, you want to store it in the refrigerator with the husk on and a damp towel around it, paper towel.

Liz Vaccariello: Alright. What about those white strings that are always getting caught in my teeth?

Leah Nichols: These are called the corn silk.

Liz Vaccariello: Okay.

Leah Nichols: And there's a really easy way to get rid of those if you just remove the husk and then take a paper towel and rub it up and down. That will remove the silks.

Liz Vaccariello: Wow, great tip! So now we’re ready to cook.

Leah Nichols: Okay. We have that pot of boiling water but don’t add salt because that’s going to make the kernel tough.

Liz Vaccariello: I did not know that, okay.

Leah Nichols: So then you want to put your cob of corn into your pot of boiling water and you want to cook it for three to five minutes because if you cook it longer than three to five minutes, that will make it chewy. So this is cool and this is where my handy dandy corn stripper comes in.

Liz Vaccariello: Whoa! What is that thing?

Leah Nichols: If you like to eat your corn off the cob or you have leftover corn that you want to use in a salad or something. This is an easy way to strip the corn from the cob.

Liz Vaccariello: Oh, safer than a knife too, right?

Leah Nichols: Much safer than a knife, so you can have your girls do it. Okay, so you just want to stand the cob on its end and you want to use this edge and basically just push it into the corn and strip the corn off the cob, that simple.

Liz Vaccariello: Wow, and it stays nice and clean.

Leah Nichols: Exactly, no mess, no fuss. You want to try it?

Liz Vaccariello: I sure will. This is great Leah, thank you.

Leah Nichols: You're welcome.

Liz Vaccariello: Tune in soon for another episode of In the Kitchen with Liz.