Friday Foodie Fix
This week’s Secret Ingredient for Friday Foodie Fix is Corn. Sweet summer corn. Maize. Did you know that corn is the number one crop in America? Unfortunately a lot of that is GMO (genetically modified organism) which just is not healthy but that’s a whole other blog post. I would suggest you ask your farmer or store where you purchase corn, if their corn is GMO or not.
This is the time of year where you can grab a fresh ear of corn, shuck it, cook it, roll it in your whatever type butter you eat, sprinkle it with salt and munch away. Growing up we would spend summers at the shore in Wildwood, NJ and I could eat 2 or 3 ears of corn a night. I still say there is nothing like Jersey corn.
Here are some fun corn facts. An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows and a pound of corn consists of approximately 1, 300 kernels. The most popular ears of corn are white, yellow or a mixture of those two. Sweet corn contains a greater proportion of sugar to starch than any other vegetable. When corn is picked, the sugars in the corn begin converting to starch. It loses 25% of it’s sugars within 24 hours of harvest. This means you should eat your corn as soon as possible after harvest. You can store in the refrigerator, in it’s husks, for 2-3 days but won’t be as sweet.
Corn is used in many ways to create many different types of dishes. I like corn on the cob, corn chowders, corn and chorizo, polenta, pupusas and scrapple just to name a few. Here are a few of my corn recipes.
Mexican Vegetable Frittata, Quinoa Salad, Swicy Shrimp & Mango, Papaya Corn Salsa, Chicken Pot Pie Sopes
I hope you will share your corn recipes here. The more recipes the merrier. To check out the rules for Friday Foodie Fix, visit our dedicated page. There you will also find all of the past Secret Ingredients and the recipes shared. Thanks to you, we are creating a great resource of recipes sorted by ingredients. Coming at the end of the summer, there will be a recap of this summer’s array of great recipes shared.
Next week’s Secret Ingredient is ………………Cantaloupe!
I always enjoy your food facts. My post isn't a recipe, but it is about corn. Thanks for hosting.
Linda- I have fun finding out about ingredients too. Love the idea of popcorn for dinner.
Ok, no corn on my blog at all right now. The truth is that I don't cook with it very often. So, I'm serving up a delicious slightly sweet shortcake with berries & cream that uses CORNmeal. It's a form of corn, right???
Amy- corn meal works great. Love the shortcake.
I had already submitted the Sloppy Joses for another Foodie Fix, but since they have a double helping of corn (polenta and kernels!), it seemed applicable. Is it okay to submit a post for more than one Friday Foodie Fix? This is too much fun 🙂
Alisa- you can add as many recipes as you like. Keep them coming. Love the popcorn!
One of my favorite ways to eat corn that I usually only do about once a year is corn pudding and that's typically at Thanksgiving. But, too hot to cook that and nobody here to help me eat it. Finally, my thoughts went the same way Amy's did … to my flat and firm cornbread. So I included that post and recipe. So easy and good.
I love corn … on the cob, tortillas, etc. But, sadly, as you cited most of it is genetically modified these days. And, the nurse practitioner who spoke at our last support group meeting (and who I also see for medical guidance) says "there is not a human being on earth who can digest corn." That does give me pause.
Thanks, Diane! Your FFF always share great info, recipes, and encourage wonderful discussion–all very much needed.
Shirley
Shirley- Interesting fact about digestion. I wonder if that's just kernels or ground corn too. Hmmm. I do love corn. Working on keeping it on a 4 day rotation is a hard one in the summer. Thanks for sharing a recipe.