Corn Season is Calling
Corn Season is Calling
Contributed by Sue Moores, M.S., R.D., Kowalski's Nutritionist.
It's prime time for one of summer's best gifts: Minnesota Grown corn on the cob. Those sweet, juicy, beautifully grown ears are in season and in-store through September.
Besides their deliciousness, corn delivers on the good-for-you front, too. Every ear contains fiber, which feeds that important gut bacteria needed to build a strong immune system. Every ear offers magnesium and the B vitamins folate, riboflavin and thiamine. And every ear contains lutein and zeaxanthin, two phytonutrients well known for their ability to promote healthy vision.
To pick and store your corn:
- Choose cobs with tight, green husks and moist golden silk.
- Pay it forward to your fellow shoppers by not peeling back the husk. Exposing the kernels causes them to dry out more quickly and shortens their "shelf life." Instead, gently feel the outside of the ear of corn, squeezing the cob gently through the husk, to check for a dense set of kernels.
- Eat corn within three days of purchasing. To keep corn from drying out, leave husks on and store it inside a loose plastic bag in the refrigerator. The longer it's stored the more apt it is to lose its natural sugars and sweet flavor and turn into a starchy-tasting cob.
Ideas for enjoying summer's finest:
- Make a raw summer salad by combining raw corn kernels with your choice of zucchini, mango, jicama, red onion, cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, and chopped fresh herbs like basil or cilantro. Dress simply with olive oil, fresh lime juice, salt and pepper. Add feta or goat cheese, if desired.
- Make a corn salsa by replacing half of the diced tomatoes in your recipe with corn kernels, or simply add corn kernels to the prepared salsa of your choice.
- Serve corn kernels as a taco or nacho topping.
- Add corn kernels to any soup. Try them in gazpacho!
- Sprinkle corn kernels on green salads.
- Sauté corn kernels quickly in a hot skillet with chopped onion and a bit of butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- You can add corn kernels to cornbread or corn muffin recipes, or even blueberry muffin recipes. Just stir kernels into the batter before baking.
- Add corn kernels to raw pancake batter before cooking.
- Heat up the grill and enjoy corn on the cob in one of our favorite recipes: Mexican Street Corn.
Local Partner Focus:
A hearty thank you to Untiedt's Vegetable Farm of Waverly, Minnesota, for filling our markets with their Minnesota Grown sweet corn. Every year, Untiedt's supplies the Minnesota State Fair with thousands of ears of corn, and we're lucky to be able to snap up a share of their harvest!
