Corn is everywhere. It’s in breakfast cereals, muffins, bread and chips. It’s tucked in as cornstarch in soups and sauces, as corn syrup in candies and beverages and as corn oil in fried foods.
Most delicious of all is that very first ear of sweet local corn savored in summer.
Corn is native to the Americas, and the first European colonists in Massachusetts would have starved had not the native residents introduced them to its virtues.
In patriotic spirit, local farmers, therefore, try to get their first corn harvest in time to celebrate July 4. It’s not easy and was touch and go this year.
The Ciesluk farm in Deerfield specializes in corn, growing it on 120 acres of rich river valley land. Nikki Ciesluk, who runs Ciesluk’s farm stand on Routes 5 and 10, already has corn to sell.
“Getting it for the Fourth is always a chance you take,” Ciesluk said. “It has to be planted in March, and of course there’s a risk of freezing. Lots of farms planted it and lost it this year, but we were lucky.
She said the farm will plant every week in a different field so they will have the corn into fall. None of the farm’s corn is genetically modified.
Four Rex Farm in Hadley is another farm that traditionally has corn ready for the Fourth of July. This year, however, it was a battle with the dry weather of June.
“Getting it for the Fourth can be a lot of trouble that doesn’t always come to fruition,” Joe Rex said ruefully. Most of the corn the farm produces goes to wholesalers who sell it on to farm stands, including some in Vermont and New Hampshire. But some is kept for the farm’s own stand on Bay Road.
Rex points out that early corn often has smaller ears. But that doesn’t faze buyers eager for the local crop.
“Most customers look for sweetness,” he said.
The appeal of sweetness is reflected in some of the names of corn varieties. Butter and Sugar is one of the earliest and most popular in our area. Another variety is simply called Sweetness. Other names include Crisp n’ Sweet, Sugar Dots, Sugar and Gold and Honey and Cream. Rex says he’s fond of the mid-season varieties Essence and Awesome.
Ciesluk says some of her customers eschew the early varieties and wait for their first corn of the year until late July when Silver Queen — an old variety — comes in.
Such favorites are among the many hundreds, or even thousands, of varieties of corn. The explanation for this multiplicity is that while corn, like wheat and other grains, evolved from grass, it has been cultivated for so long that all the kinds we now have are the result of human manipulation. The wild forms no longer exist.
The ancient American people who tinkered with corn and even our recent ancestors were not as interested as we are in sweet varieties. They needed to store their crop for winter, and so were keen on hardier and mealier varieties that they could dry and grind into cornmeal for making mushes and breads and pancakes.
This preference is reflected in older cookbooks where cooking times for corn were much longer than the minute or two usually suggested for fresh corn today. For example, in 1896, “Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook” instructed readers to cook it from 10 to 20 minutes, and as late as 1931, Irma Rombauer was also suggesting 10 minutes in her “Joy of Cooking.”
The need for corn to use throughout winter is also reflected in the many traditional recipes of our region. Among them are various cornbreads, johnnycakes, flapjacks, muffins, anadama bread, Indian pudding, corn chowder, corn oysters and many more.
Similarly, in all the many countries of the world where corn has become an important foodstuff, there are breads and cookies whose characteristic flavor and texture are of corn. Italian polenta and cookies such as zaletti are examples. And in the South and Central American heartlands of corn, there are numerous corn flatbreads and puddings redolent of corn but with scarcely a hint of sweetness.
Now that farm stands have fresh corn piled under their awnings, it’s time to savor it fresh from a big pan of boiling water or from the grill. Or you can strip the kernels from the cob and combine them with vegetables or chicken or fish in supper dishes. Or you can grab a bag of flavorsome stone-ground cornmeal and turn it into muffins or cornbreads. Following are are some recipes.
Humita is a delicious and sustaining corn dish from Argentina. Recipes vary but the basics are grated or puréed fresh corn kernels with cheese and eggs plus flavorings. Additions include vegetables such as onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Sometimes it is topped with eggs or strips of peppers before baking. Sometimes it is spread over beef or chicken to make a filling casserole. This recipe is a recreation of the humita served as a stuffing for baked squash in the Maria Antonieta restaurant in Mendoza, Argentina. The local ears of corn are large, fatter than ours rather than longer, and taste like super corn because the flavor is so intense.
You can bake humita in a shallow baking dish, or in individual baking dishes. Or use it as a filling for small winter squash such as buttercup or acorn squashes.
Instructions for cooking the humita in squash — a rich, satisfying, and highly nutritious main dish — follow the basic recipe.
4-6 cups ears of corn
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons fennel seeds or few drops of anise flavoring
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 scallions, white and tender green parts chopped
2 cups (7-8 ounces) grated Cheddar cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Grated nutmeg to taste
¾ teaspoon salt
3-4 basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
3-4 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2-3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
You need 4 cups of corn kernels. You should get this much from four large ears of corn, but will need an extra ear or two if they are small. Shuck the corn, strip the kernels by holding the corn in its base and cutting downward with a sharp knife. Process the corn in a blender or food processor. Alternately, instead of cutting the corn off the cob, grate it.
Mix the cornstarch to a thin paste with a little of the milk and set aside. If you are using fennel seeds rather than anise extract, pound them briefly in a mortar or put them in a bag and pound with a rolling pin to release the flavor. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a shallow baking dish with a little of the butter.
Heat the rest of the butter in a large pan, and gently cook the onion in it for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped scallions, and then the corn and the cheese. As it melts, stir in the eggs, the cornstarch mixture and the rest of the milk. Grate nutmeg into the mixture. (If you use powdered nutmeg add just a pinch). Stir in the fennel or anise and the salt. Cook for just one minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the basil. Taste and add more salt, spices or herbs if you like. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and sprinkle the Parmesan and breadcrumbs on top. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden and the humita looks puffed up. You can also use four to five individual serving dishes, add roughly a cup of the mixture to each one. They take about 15 minutes in the oven.
To stuff buttercup or other small winter squash with humita, choose four relatively small buttercup squashes, cut off the stem end and about a quarter of the top of the squash. Scoop out the seeds and fibers. (If using acorn squash or larger winter squash, halve them for filling. You will need two to make four servings). Bake them in a 350-degree oven until the flesh is tender but not soft. The squash should be holding its shape. This takes about 25 minutes. Alternately, bake in a microwave for about 7 minutes. Fill the cavity to within an inch of the top. Scatter the Parmesan and breadcrumbs on the surface and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they have browned.