Farmer's Market

Mirai (ME-rye)

I can believe that it is almost September already, summer is rapidly coming to an end, and fall is just around the corner. We are also nearing the end of the local corn harvest. I just love corn, any corn, and can eat it all summer long. In the fall and winter it's corn chowder that I crave.

Start Husking

This year my wife brought home a hybrid corn called "Mirai®" (pronounced ME-rye). She cut off a piece and offered it to me raw. This is how the farmer selling the corn was sampling it to customers. While I prefer cooked corn, I just had to try it. It was not only sweet and juicy, it could be eaten raw in a pinch. The farmer was from Twin Garden Farms in Harvard, Illinois. If you live in Illinois go to their website at http://www.twingardenfarms.com. The corn was developed  right here in Illinois.The seed was introduced to Japan where there is a tradition of seeking out quality food and they named it Mirai®. In Japanese this means “taste of the future”. Find it and try it. To find out more go to (http://www.miraicorn.com/some)

Ready to blanch

I love to have fresh frozen corn on hand for the fall and winter so I buy more than I need, blanch it, and freeze it in zip-lock freezer bags. This is a messy job so if you can do it outdoors I would suggest it. While you're working on the corn you're going to get hungry so throw some hot dogs, bratwurst and hamburgers on the grill.

If you have a side burner on your grill bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Once the water is boiling add the corn. Turn off the gas, cover the pot and allow to sit for 3 minutes.  
Remove the pot from the burner, dump the hot water and add cold water to stop the corn from cooking any more. If you have a OXO brand corn stripper it takes no time to remove the corn kernels from the cobb.  I call it a corn mouse because it looks like a computer mouse.

Once the corn has been stripped off of the cob. Put 3-4 cups in a quart size freezer bag. Make sure all of the air is out of the bag before freezing it. Now the the work is done, just pull out a bag of corn whenever the warm and fuzzy mood hits you. 

Did someone mention corn chowder? How about lobster or crab and corn chowder? Please send me your recipe.

© Tmelle 1998-2011