Most North Americans Do Not Cook Corn; they murder it.

Most North Americans do not cook corn; they murder it.
Corn on the cob loses its flavour very quickly once it has been picked. It can be kept in plastic bags in a refrigerator for two or three days, but will lose its flavour in a day if unrefrigerated

 Most people badly overcook corn; there by losing most of the nutritional value.

And

****Most Importantly****

To have this vegetable in perfection,

The husks should be left on until just before it is to be served.

Never, ever, ever, and still never, buy corn that has been pre-husked, and never take the husks off in the store.

 If desired, you may pull down the husk, remove the silk, and tie the husks back in place with string, just before cooking. Drop the ears into boiling water and cook 3 to 7 minutes, according to the size of the corn. Do not salt the water, as this toughens the corn. Or fit ears with only clinging water into a closely-covered Dutch oven. Allow to steam at medium heat 15-20 minutes (of course the un-husked corn may also be cooked on the grill).

Lay a napkin on the serving-plate. Pile the corn upon this, cover it with the corners of the napkin and serve.

Corn Soufflé

1 Tbsp. fat

            Pepper

1 Tbsp. flour

1 boiled pimiento

½ cup milk

2 cups corn pulp

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

¼ tsp. paprika

Corn soufflé is made with a white sauce, in this case Béchamel, using the fat, flour, milk, and seasoning. Rub the pimiento through a sieve and add it to the sauce. Add the corn to the mixture. Cool slightly, then add the well beaten egg yolks and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Turn into a greased baking dish, set the dish in a pan of hot water, and bake in a moderate oven (375 F.) until the egg is set, about thirty minutes.

Corn Oysters

2 cups corn pulp

2 Tbsps. fat

2 eggs                                               

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsps. flour

 If fresh corn is used, grate it from the cob with a coarse grater. If canned corn is used, select one of the sieved varieties. Beat the egg-yolks and whites separately and add to the grated corn, with flour and fat, salt and pepper. Drop the batter from a spoon into hot fat (360-370 F.) and fry light brown (2-3 minutes) Drain on paper towel. Serve hot.

Corn Pudding or Devilled Corn

2 Tbsps. fat             

2 cups corn pulp

2 Tbsps. flour         

1 egg

1½ cups milk          

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. salt                            

Buttered crumbs

¼ tsp. mustard

Paprika

Make the Béchamel sauce of fat flour, milk, and seasonings; add corn, egg slightly beaten, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour into a baking dish, cover with buttered crumbs and bake in a moderate oven (350=400 F.) fifteen to thirty minutes.

Baked Corn and Tomatoes

2 cups cooked corn                      

1 tsp. sugar

2 cups tomatoes

1 cup fresh bread-crumbs

1 tsp. salt                            

3 Tbsps. fat

Pepper

Mix seasonings with corn and tomatoes and pour all into a greased baking-dish. Spread the crumbs over top, dot them with fat, and bake in a moderate oven (350-400 F.) for one-half hour. This is a satisfactory way of utilizing left-over corn or tomatoes.

Succotash

2 cups green corn or

1 cup dried corn

            Salt and pepper

2 cups fresh Lima, String or Butter beans or 1 cup dried Lima beans

1 cup milk

4 Tbsps. butter

If fresh vegetables are used, cut the corn from the cob. Cover the beans with the least possible amount of boiling water, to prevent scorching, and cook until tender. Drain off the water; add the corn and milk and cook slowly until the corn is tender. Add the butter and other seasoning.

When dried corn and beans are used, soak both separately overnight. In the morning, cover the beans with fresh water and boil them very gently until tender. Do not drain the water from the corn, but reduce heat so it will cook slowly. When the beans are tender, drain and add them to the corn, allowing only water enough to cover. Cook slowly until tender and drain off water to save for soup. Add the milk and seasoning.

The Evolution of Corn (Maize)-It Did Not Originate In North America

Of all the strange, unknown plants that explorers found in the New World, corn is arguably the second most important.

The native Inca population called it “maize” and the harvest of maize could mean the difference between abundance and starvation for these highly advanced peoples.          

Corn or maize (zea mays, is a domesticated grass and like many other indigenous plants; beans, squash, melons, and tobacco for example, it is of South American origin- so much for the claims of some Canadian and United States of the Americas First Nations tribes.

European colonists quickly adopted maize agriculture from the natives of Central and South America. These crops quickly spread to other parts of the world as well.

Over a period of probably thousands of years, the Incas and some other tribes of South America purposefully transformed maize through special cultivation techniques. Maize was developed from a wild grass (Teosinte) originally growing in South America and as far up as southern Mexico. The ancestral kernels of Teosinte looked very different from today’s corn. These kernels were small and were not fused together like the kernels on the husked ear of early maize and modern corn.

By systematically collecting and cultivating those plants best suited for human consumption, native South Americans encouraged the formation of ears or cobs on early maize. The first ears of maize were only a few inches long and had only eight rows of kernels (much like the tiny cobs sometimes used in Chinese food). Cob length and size of early maize grew over the years and gradually increased the yields.

Eventually the productivity of maize cultivation was great enough to make it possible and worthwhile for a family to produce food for the bulk of their diet for an entire year in a small area although agriculture permitted a family to live in one place for an extended period of time, the commitment to agriculture involved demands on human time and labour and often restricted human mobility. The genetic alterations in Teosinte changed its food value as a food resource and at the same time affected the human scheduling necessary for its effective procurement.

As the life ways of mobile hunting and gathering were often transformed into sedentary agricultural customs, very slowly the cultivation of maize, along with beans, squash and tomatoes was introduced into the southern parts of North America The practice of maize agriculture did not reach the southern parts of what is now the United States of North America until about a thousand years ago.