Corny Concerto

Note; It really tans my hide when people whine about the "Liberal Media." Duh, how about the Corporate-tool media, as in NBC=GE, CBS=ViaCom, ABC=Disney. Or how about the COMMERCIAL media, as in selling something and making money- hello? THAT's what all TV news is, selling us exactly what we want- and guess what? "The customer is always right." Oh, except of course, FOX News, which of course is SO fair and SO balanced (and NOT Republican propaganda in any way shape or form at all, NOOO.)

Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader,
Thursday, July 26, 2007 – Page 3

It is that time of year. The symphony of summer is reaching a pitched crescendo.
July reached it’s unbearable hottest and at last evening thunderstorms broke loose. The fireflies have mysteriously faded away and the cicadas have conspicuously replaced them.
Kids are actually beginning to become weary of their constant sunburns, mosquito bites, and scuffed knees and elbows, some are even getting a tiny bit bored with their routines of late nights and late mornings, bike rides, pools and freedom.

Yet there is the shadow of a gathering cloud on their horizon. The bitter dull anxiety that another school year is encroaching on their worlds. They look forward to seeing so many of their friends again and changing their routines, yet they dread the homework and responsibilities and pressures.

Neighbors are laying their offerings of squash, zucchini, and rhubarb on the altar of friendship (and unloading their surplus on all the stoops and porches around town).

The beans are at their deepest, darkest greens so that if you’re on a road between two fields you feel like you’re adrift in a sea.

The corn has tasselled-out. It’s like the zenith in the grand finale of a fireworks show.
The melodic postlude of the home grown tomatoes is still a few weeks off, but right now is that crescendo, the fever pitched sweetness of perhaps God’s greatest gift to Iowa, her crowning glory- the harvest of the sweet corn.

Many an amateur theologian has postulated that wine and beer and chocolate are proofs of His love, but none are quite as generous, like a grandparent offering a child candy, as sweet corn.

My friends and family in far flung places like Arizona and California just don’t get it. Only Midwesterners- rural and small town Midwesterners have a true appreciation of this gift.
Like the best blessings, it is appreciated more if it is preceded by adversity.

I don’t know how many years I have whined about July weather in Iowa. Too hot, too humid, too buggy, together that’s too miserable. Ever the optimist, my Farmer-in-Law would remind me that it’s bad for people and livestock, but wonder full for the corn.

This may be theologically incorrect, but isn’t there a song that says “you gotta go through Hell before ya get to Heaven?”

Bushels of sweet corn are given to friends and neighbors and pastors. Truckloads are sold at farmer’s markets and on roadsides, but some of the sweetest sweet corn are the arm fulls you help pick and prepare.

I always offer up a prayer for the veterans of Vietnam when I trudge through the jungle, enduring heat and insects and the itch and cuts and scratches and sweat.

The field corn a few more rows in stands almost twice as tall as the sweet corn, but we had to keep bending over to pick ears. I suppose since it’s been so dry the corn hasn’t got the energy to suck water up from way down in May to reach the kernels.

Eleven months of the year corn is a side dish or an ingredient. In Iowa in July, corn is the main dish. Often the only item on the menu and that’s fine because it is so sweet, so creamy, and fresh and so spectacular that it constitutes appetizer, main course, side dish, and desert.
Butter, salt and pepper, plenty of napkins, toothpicks, and maybe a broom are all the accompaniment that are needed for this culinary concert.

Here are a few recipes if you actually get tired of eating it off the cob. You can use these later in the year with the corn you "can" too;

Sweet Corn Chowder

2 strips raw bacon -- diced
1/2 sweet onion -- diced
1/2 c red pepper -- diced
2 c sweet corn cut from cob
3 tbsp fl our
3 c chicken or veg. stock
1 c russet potatoes -- diced
1 c heavy cream
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper -- to taste

Cook bacon over medium-high heat in a large sauce pan
until crisp; add onions, peppers, and Florida sweet corn and
stir for approximately two minutes; add fl our and stir for one
minute; andd stock and stir until smooth, birng to a boil, add
potatoes and simmer for 15-20 minutes to desired consistency;
add cream and simmer 2 more minutes. Season with fresh
parsley, salt and pepper.

Brown Rice & Sweet Corn Salad

1 lb Brown rice, cooked
1/2 lb Sweet corn, cooked
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c diced red pepper
1/2 c diced green pepper
2 lg Firm guavas, diced
(or try kiwis or tart apples)
4 T Vegetable oil

Heat the oil in a large wok or pan and saute the onion until
translucent. Add the diced green and red peppers and saute
until tender. Reduce the heat and stir in the corn, rice, and
fi nally the guava. Remove from heat and season to taste. Chill
in the refrigerator and stir again before serving. For a fl avor
accent, you may toss in a vinaigrette dressing.

Festival Sweet Corn Salsa

1 c corn kernels, cooked
1 ripe papaya, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 dice
1/3 c diced red onion
2 ripe diced tomatoes,
1 1/2 ts minced garlic
1 tb grated lime zest
1/4 c Lime juice
1/3 c Chopped cilantro

Any salsa is best when served fresh. If it isn’t convenient to make the salsa just before serving time, prepare and refrigerate all your ingredients ahead of time and toss together 15 minutes before serving. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except cilantro. Toss together. Refrigerate, covered, for up to 2 hours. Just before serving, toss with cilantro.