I'm having corn on the cob and bacon, tomato and mushroom sandwiches for dinner. I know, mushrooms? Honestly, I wasn't raised that way. Ha. I like it though. I have tons of corn. It's really surprised me because I didn't plant rows. The experts say you have to space it 10-12 inches apart and you have to have rows or it won't pollinate and it won't make ears. Well, I figured I only wanted it for a privacy fence anyway, so I ignored that advice. I planted it thick, like you'd plant grass. I figured I'd get a few ears here and there and that would be good enough. Well, I have several ears on every stalk of corn. They DO seem to be shorter than the grocery store corn, but, they're much sweeter. I have tons of it and I've been eating it for a couple of weeks and have given bags of it away and I'll betcha I'm not even a tenth of the way through the patch. So the experts were wrong. Sometimes you just have to do what you want to and say fuck it and a garden lets you do that. It made me realize you could feed a big family corn all Summer for nothing and not need much space to plant it. That's a good thing, right?*
I tried freezing two bags of it without blanching it or anything, so I'll thaw one out in a few days and see if that worked alright. It's the sweetest patch of sweet corn I've ever had so I hope to save some of it for the cold Winter. Yum, good sammie. I love pork. Bacon, pork chops, pork roast, BBQ pork sandwiches, any kind of pork. Iowa is only known for corn and hogs, so it's a good thing I like both. I hate hogs too, so it's guilt free eatin'. They're big and mean and scary and they stink and though they have a perfect right to exist, we have a perfect right to eat them, if you ask me. I know my vegan friends will kick my ass on here for that. Sigh. Go ahead. Bet you never lived around big ol' mean hogs though. Shudder.
27 comments:
Oh my god! I was almost killed and eaten by an angry sow when I was just about 4 years old. I don't remember the incident but grew up hearing about it. Seems I had climbed the fence into my uncle's hog lot and tried to get me one of those baby piglets. The mama came after me and my screams of terror alerted the grown ups who were sitting in the house. Everyone came running outside and saw me racing across the barn lot with an angry sow close at my heels. Just as I got to the fence my dad reached over and pulled me free of her chomping teeth. The story I was always told was that if she had gotten hold of me I would have been her lunch.
mmmm!!!
I have one corn plant and no ears yet. The rest of the seeds didn't grow for some reason. I'll just have to enjoy the home grown corn experience through you.
Enjoy your dinner!
I made fried green tomato's last weekend. I put up pictures on my blog. Let me know if you think they are worthy or not!
Pat,
My oldest is Vegan..enough said on that subject.
Oh I want some corn but i did not buy any today at the FM. But I did buy some brussel sprouts. Mmm! I coat them in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast them till the outside gets crispy.
I love pork too.
Matilda, she WOULD have eaten you. No doubt in my mind. Dangerous fuckers, give me a Brama bull any day over a hog.
Frim, wish you were here, I'd give you some.
I know Heidi, you have a nice website on vegan cookery.
Naseem! I'm so glad you tried them!
You gotta work the food chain - that's what makes the world go round! :D
when i was a kid our grade school class went to a HOG FARM for a class trip...i will never forget seeing all these dead piglets in a bucket....
i guess only in iowa will they take a grade school to a hog farm! WTF?!?! and i lived in a 'city' too...not like Dewitt or a more rural town....
but i would LOVE some iowa sweet corn!!!
I love corn. I put it on salads and sometimes just open a can and eat it as a snack (also helps the pipes, if ya know what I mean).
I wish it wasn't considered a starch. I never understood that.
At the dollar store they have Green Giant Corn for .33 a can.
Pat - I've always had great luck freezing corn on the cob. Just be sure to suck the air out of the bag. I was going to pick some up this week but it was like 5 for $2 at the grocers. Not insane I guess but I couldn't justify buying it when its available at the farmstands for $1 per bakers dozen.
Not a pork fan (nothing against it just never developed a taste for it) but the kid could literally live on bacon and porkchops. Come to think of it, that and pop-tarts pretty much describes her diet right now. I think she may have accidentally eaten a vegetable last year...
Love your corn "shorties" picture. Here's what I learned recently: Don't defrost frozen corn on the cob. Just put the frozen corn right into boiling water until tender. That way it's not mushy. Try it this way and see how you like it. I love great corn on the cob this does the trick for me when fresh isn't available.
Will do, Janice, thanks.
LMAO @ Bella, Lissa eats corn because she doesn't know it's a veggie.
Snark, I'll get you gardening yet.
Tia, what in hell? Pigglets in a bucket? That's money down the drain! Not to menition, sad, 'cause pigglets are as cute as their moms are mean. Oh, my.
yep...piglets (And they were cute) piled in a 5 gallon bucket...it's been like 33/34 years and i STILL can see that image as plain as day....
I never heard the likes. You lived here, you know how they value pigs. That's so weird.
Try this DD. Get some coals going in your washing machine pit (love it btw). Go pick some ears and do not shuck them. Just throw them in the coals. Keep turning them for a bout ten minutes or so and don't become alarmed when the husks start turning black it just means smokey roasted flavor is a happenin inside. Take one out and pull the husk back ever so slightly to check for doneness. You will be amazed at how easy the silk comes off and then you can throw all the husks and silk right into the fire. CAUTION: use a towel to husk cause those little ears will be hot
I've had an African Violet that I haven't killed (about 3 years) but that's the only thing I've grown.
I don't have ANY space in this tiny apartment. My BF grows the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. Every time I see her she brings me a bundle and it cheers up this place and makes it smell wonderful.
This same friend has a father who grows fruits and veggies. About 10 years ago I discovered a "new" vegetable that I had never heard of.
LEMON CUCUMBERS.
They are the best things in the world. I could eat them all day long. I could go on a cucumber diet if I had to. I could only get them at the farmers market now because he's not growing them this year.
Not Japanese Cucumbers, those are small and useless. These lemon cucs could be the size of a softball.
MMmmmmmm
Escrowmoma: Do you soak the ears
in a bucket of water first before
tossing them on the fire? I seem
to recall a version of the roasted
ears from when I was a kid but
thought they were soaked first.
I do recall it was wonderful
roasted.
I stopped eating a lot of corn after finding out its poor nutritional value. And high fructose corn syrup will wreak havoc on your body.
Love me some brussel sprouts though. I'll try Heidi's recipe in a minute.
I agree with Miss Tia about the little pigs; but they taste so good!.
Jarhead
high fructose corn syrup is different than eating corn! ugh...that makes me think of the ADM plant in the city i'm from in iowa...they made high fructose corn syrup there and it REEKED horribly and the whole city was covered in a black ash from their plant....
but it didn't reek as bad as 'national by-products'...it's early, i don't go into details there...
high fructose corn syrup IS EVIL!!!
i know they value pigs/hogs/livestock in Iowa DD!! i believe those baby's were still borns but they were just gathered in that bucket!! they looked fine too...that's probably why i kept staring at it...i couldn't fathom how they could be dead because they looked fine and i was a kid and didn't know any better...
yes Miss Tia, I know that HFCS is different from the actual corn. But corn has near zero nutritional value (like white bread). Cattle get infections from the grain and have to be pumped full of antibiotics that then get consumed by the public. I fed corn to Blackbuck antelope and other exotic animals at the ranch every winter to keep them fat, because that is all it does. I love the taste of corn, but I like to be aware of what I feed myself.
Vicki-nope, I never soak them. They are totally protected by the silk and husks.
I can take or leave pork. Corn is alright, my husband loves corn on the cob, with lots of melted butter. I'm not to fond of the corn grown here in the US...is too sweet. I'm more used to the 'choclo' corn grown in my home country(Ecuador)...is not as sweet, and the kernels are easier to separate from the husk (you can snap them out with your thumbs), and it's yummy with our queso fresco...I like to fry the kernels in oil and butter, they crisp up really good, and I sprinkle some salt yuuummmmmmm!!!!!
I will die knowing I never missed a good meal just because it wasn't something recomended by dietary experts. What's the use of sticking around this place for years longer if you never have anything that's just yummy? If pinneapple pizza grew on trees, I'd be out there with my basket.
BWAHHAHAHAHA I just noticed the filemane.... Cornycorn LMAO!!!
I have never had luck freezing corn on the cob. We steamed or blanched then cut the corn off the ear with a electric knife this goes pretty fast. Do it into a big bowl. You can season it now. we butter, salt and pepper. Others will do cream and sugar. If you have corn worth freezing i don't think that is necessary. I think it would be fun to add red bell pepper. A little work but boy it tastes great in January when you haven't seen the damn sun in weeks. That's extremely Iowa.
Thanks, Noelle. I'll try that too.
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