Harmony Valley Farm: July 27, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Sweet Corn

Get ready, the peak of summer vegetables is upon us as we say good-bye to July and welcome August! This week we’re featuring sweet corn, an iconic summer vegetable for all of us in the Midwest. While corn-on-the cob slathered in butter, salt and pepper is the poster child of summer eating, there are many other ways to enjoy fresh sweet corn! This week’s featured recipe is very simple, but very flavorful. When you start with good ingredients, it doesn’t take much to create something tasty such as this week’s Summer Carrot & Grilled Corn Salad (See Below). This is a recipe borrowed from a cookbook written by my friend, Sarah Britton. You can enjoy this basic salad as more of a side dish or turn it into a meal itself by adding in some black beans and serving it over a cooked grain, such as rice or quinoa. If you prefer to use your corn to make a one-pan dinner, check out this scrumptious recipe for Garlic Butter Creamed Corn Chicken. On the lighter side, pair sweet corn with this week’s green curly kale in this tasty Grilled Corn & Kale Salad that we featured in one of our newsletters several years ago.

This week’s main article is all about the beauty of using summer vegetables to make a wide variety of salads, in the absence of lettuce which we don’t grow during the heat of the summer. So I thought it would be appropriate to offer a few suggestions such as this Green Bean Salad with Peaches or Roasted Cauliflower & Kale Salad.

Since we mentioned cauliflower, now would be a good time to bring your attention to this article entitled “24 Creative Ways to Cook With Cauliflower”. This collection does include some interesting recipes such as Cauliflower Fudge Brownie or Cauliflower Crust Breakfast Pizza. You know I like to incorporate vegetables into breakfast whenever possible!

Zucchini Pizza
Photo from www.feastingathome.com

The last thing I want to highlight this week is the pile of zucchini in this week’s box! Zucchini is a fun vegetable as it challenges you to get more and more creative each week of the summer! Don’t worry, I’m here to help and this week I’m going to point you in the direction of this article for 30+ Mouthwatering Zucchini Recipes!. Two of my favorite recipes from this collection include Zucchini Lasagna, where slices of zucchini take the place of lasagna noodles, and this decadent recipe for Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins with Dried Cherries. Dried cherries?! What a great way to kick up the chocolate zucchini muffin act!

Alright friends, I’m signing off for another week, but before I go, melons are just around the corner along with the first crop of edamame! Tomatoes, eggplant, and more peppers will be gracing your tables very soon, along with some fresh shelling beans, magenta Amaranth greens and spicy jalapeño peppers! So much good summer cooking is yet to come! Have a great week.

—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Sweet Corn

by Andrea Yoder

Pheromone trap by Sweet Corn field

Corn on the cob, slathered in butter, a mix of corn juice and butter running down your chin…. now that’s summer! Growing sweet corn can be a challenge, but we’re up for a challenge and every year we set out to grow the best sweet corn possible! Achieving great tasting sweet corn starts with selecting appropriate varieties for the time of the season and ones that grow well in our region. The downside of tasty corn is that we are not the only creatures who like to eat it! Pest control is a never-ending battle and every year we employ multiple methods to keep your sweet corn safe from raccoons, deer, birds, and corn earworms. We have a cannon in the field that fires (noise only, no projectile objects) periodically to scare the birds as well as a laser to deter birds from entering the field. Additionally, we have reflective streamers, scare-eye balloons, some hawk and owl decoys and repurposed Tyvek spray coveralls to create some frightening scarecrows to keep the birds away. Thankfully, these methods have been working well thus far. We also have a tall fence around the crop to keep deer and raccoons out of the field, but raccoons are tricky and usually can find a way to go under the fence. Thus, we also have a low electric tape around the perimeter of the field to discourage their entry.

There is one other pest we need to talk about that is not deterred by flashy decoys, fences, or electric tapes. Corn earworms are moth larvae that hatch from eggs that are laid on the silks of the corn ears. When they hatch, they spend a few days on the silks before they eat their way down into the ear of the corn. To combat the earworms, we use an organic approved Bt spray, a naturally occurring bacteria that is toxic to the earworms. We only spray when necessary, so we monitor the flight of the moth larvae to determine when it will be most effective to spray the Bt. Richard follows the UW Extension pest monitoring bulletins which help to monitor corn earworm activity across the state. We also put a pheromone trap in our cornfield that attracts the moths when they are ready to start laying eggs. When we have moths in the traps, we know it is time to spray the corn. With the right timing, the newly hatched earworms eat the Bt we’ve applied to the corn silk and die before they can damage the sweet kernels inside. This year, however, has been a bit tricky with regards to timing our spray applications. Our local UW pest monitoring site in Coon Valley, Wisconsin still hasn’t reported any earworm moth activity, but we caught two moths in our pheromone trap which was the catalyst for us to spray. We thought we had the timing right, but then Rafael found corn earworms in the corn last weekend! The worms that infiltrated our crop were hatched ahead of the moths that we caught. It’s very early for corn earworms, perhaps the result of climate change and a very warm summer?

We’ll continue to do our best to monitor and spray if and when needed, but there is a chance you’ll find a worm or two in your corn. If you do, should you throw away the entire ear? I really hope not! The earworm usually only affects the tip of the cob, so if you simply cut the top few inches off you can enjoy the remaining 80-90% of the corn. If you don’t want to risk seeing a worm, you can cut the tips off the corn before you even remove the husks. If they are there, you’ll never even know! And…. thank you for your understanding.

Manuel and Silvestre icing the Sweet Corn!

Sweet corn is a crop you can’t rush, it’s ready when it’s ready and you just have to do your best to determine when it’s at its optimal maturity. Sometimes you’ll have a lot and sometimes there will only be a small amount to pick. Regardless of the quantity, I want to encourage you to think about ways you might enjoy and use corn that go beyond the classic Corn on the Cob. Before we jump into preparation, I need to mention one very important thing about sweet corn that you need to remember. Keep It Cold!!! If refrigerator space is an issue, remove the husk and put the ears of corn in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Keeping sweet corn cold is important for maintaining the sugar content. Time and warm temperatures will cause sugars to convert to starch which will negatively impact both flavor and texture.

Sweet Corn Pancakes

As for using corn, you may choose to cook it in the husk or without the husk and you also have the option of cooking it on or off the cob. Often people will choose to cook corn on the cob in its husk if they’re cooking it on a grill or open fire. If you do this, you should soak the ears of corn in their husks for a bit before putting them on the grill, otherwise the husks will dry out and burn more quickly. If you choose to remove the husks first, you have several options for cooking the corn if left on the cob. You can roast it in the oven or place it directly on the grill. You can also boil ears of corn in salted water. Once cooked, you can either eat it directly off the cob or cut the kernels off the cob using a paring knife. Whether cooked or raw, cutting kernels off the cob can sometimes get a little messy. I like to prop my ear of corn up on end in a shallow bowl or in a pan when I cut the kernels off the cob. This way the kernels will fall into the bowl instead of all over the cutting board.

Once corn is cooked you can incorporate it into pasta dishes, risotto, vegetable salads, soup, chowder, quesadillas, tacos, and salsa! You can also use fresh corn kernels in cornbread, muffins, waffles, pancakes or even to make desserts such as ice cream and cake. A little fresh corn can really brighten up any dish with its sweetness, color, and tender texture.

We always focus on the kernels of corn, but if you really want to maximize each ear of corn, we really should look at how to use the entire ear! For starters, don’t discard the cobs! Corn cobs have a lot of flavor and can be used to make a flavorful Corn cob Stock, which may be used when making risotto, poaching fish or chicken, or as the base for sauces and soups.

Lastly, sweet corn is a great vegetable to squirrel away for use in the winter. While it may be canned, we usually freeze our corn. Aside from a little time, it’s very easy to preserve corn by freezing it. It simply needs to be briefly cooked and then cut the kernels off the ear, bag them and pop them in the freezer! I you are interested in purchasing a larger quantity of sweet corn this year as a “produce plus” option, please email csa@harmonyvalleyfarm.com and we’ll put you on “the list.” As mentioned earlier, it’s sometimes hard to predict the timing of when sweet corn is ready to be picked. There will likely be a week when we have more sweet corn ready for harvest than we have room in the CSA boxes! This will be the week we contact you to let you know the sweet corn is available and it’s go-time! Enjoy!

Summer Carrot & Grilled Corn Salad

Yield: 2 to 3

2 large ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed

1-2 Tbsp coconut oil or ghee, melted

Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

½ fresh jalapeño, or other chile

1 tsp honey or maple syrup

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp cold-pressed olive oil

3-4 medium carrots, sliced into thin rounds or shredded

3-4 spring onions, sliced thinly into rounds

1 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Smoked sea salt (optional)

Heat your outdoor grill or a cast-iron grill pan until hot.
Brush the corn with the melted oil, and grill until the corn is tender and slightly charred, 7 to 10 minutes. Let cool slightly. Slice the kernels off the cobs and put them into a large bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lime zest and juice, a minced chile, honey, salt, cumin, and olive oil.
Add the carrots, spring onions, and cilantro to the bowl containing the corn. Pour the dressing over, toss to combine, and let the flavors soak in for at least 10 minutes. Season with smoked sea salt, or salt of your choosing, and serve.

This recipe was borrowed from Sarah Britton’s book My New Roots. In the introduction to this recipe, she suggests the following: “To make this more of a meal, toss in some black beans and serve it all over a cooked grain like quinoa or brown rice.”

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

July 27, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Sweet Corn

Cooking With This Week's Box

Vegetable Feature: Sweet Corn

Summer Carrot & Grilled Corn Salad

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