Wellness

Corn

Fresh corn should be sweet, crisp, and juicy. It is best eaten as fresh as possible, as it starts to lose its sugar content immediately after harvesting. The most common way to prepare fresh corn on the cob is to boil it, but roasting is also an excellent way to prepare it. To roast corn in the husk, first pull back the husks so that you can remove the silk, then replace the husks and tie them with kitchen string. Soak the corn in cold water for five minutes. Place corn on the grill and cook, turning occasionally.

Trivia

Maize is the proper word for corn, taken from the Indians of the New World who introduced it to European explorers and settlers. The word corn goes back to Biblical days, and means any particle of grain or any small pellet of anything. In some lands, corn meant wheat; in others it meant barley or oats. Only Americans adopted the word to describe maize.

In many American dialects, the word for corn meant, "that which gives us life." Indeed, corn was the dietary staple of Indians. Aztec and Mayan civilizations were built on a corn economy, as corn provided food, currency, fuel, fodder for animals, silk for smoking, sugar and even fermented beverages.