Cooking with Corn 101 – Part 2

This post is the second and final post on cooking with corn and it provides an overview of the vast culinary uses of corn.

Part 1 provides an overview of the history of corn, corn varieties and where to buy them.

Introduction

The grain of the month in this series on whole grains is corn. 

This post is part two of cooking with Corn 101 and it focuses on the culinary uses of corn.

Part one provided an overview of the history of corn, the types of corn that are grown and where to buy non-GMO corn for cooking and growing your own.  

Culinary Uses of Corn

Corn is an extremely versatile grain and people in different parts of the world have developed many local recipes to prepare corn.

Corn preparation and its history is a topic that has many ardent followers. 

Some people dedicate their careers to just once method, for example: allthingshominy.com.

Below are the different ways corn can be prepared and which types of corn are typically used.

Links are also included to whole-food, plant-based versions of recipes, with a preference for low or oil free versions when available.

Otherwise, links to vegetarian versions are given.

Sprouted Corn

Most corn seeds can be sprouted into corn shoots if they are non-irradiated.

However some varieties are more likely to mold then others.

For home applications, it is typically recommended to use popcorn varieties and grow them in the dark to keep them a light yellow color and preserve their sweet corn flavor.

How to Sprout Corn Shoots

The basic steps to growing corn shoots are:

1. Soak dry corn overnight in water.
2. Place soaked corn in a growing medium.
3. Water as needed from bottom to prevent mold.
4. When shoots are around 3 inches (after around 7 to 12 days), harvest by cutting shoots just above ground level.

A more in depth post on growing corn shoots can be found here.

Ways to Eat Corn Shoots

Corn shoots can be treated like fresh salad greens and added to stir fries, sandwiches or smoothies.

Baby Corn

As the corn plant grows, it goes through a baby corn stage prior to pollination. 

In Asian cuisine, particularly Thailand, baby corn is a commonly eaten vegetable.

Common ways to prepare baby corn are provided below.

Preparing Baby Corn

Raw Baby Corn

Baby corn can be eaten raw, whole or chopped, typically in salads.

Boiled Baby Corn

If using raw or frozen baby corn:

1. Place in a pot and cover with water.
2. Add a pinch of salt.
3. Bring water to a boil.
4. Lower to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes until baby corn reaches desired tenderness.

Stir Fried Baby Corn

Fresh or thawed raw baby corn can be stir fried in oil or water for about 3 minutes.

Canned baby corn simply needs to be warmed up in stir fry for about 1 minute.

Roasted Baby Corn

Fresh or canned baby corn can be roasted at 400° Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes, one layer deep, turning baby corn over half way through.

Seasonings of your choice can be added before roasting.

A couple of tasty recipes can be found here and here.

Grilled Baby Corn

Baby corn can be placed on a griddle or BBQ grill and turned every few minutes until char marks appear – about 10 minutes total.

A grilled baby corn recipe can be found here.

Pickled Baby Corn

Baby corn can be quick pickled in a vinegar brine with the spices of your choice.

A baby corn pickling recipe can be found here.

Growing Baby Corn

You can grow your own baby corn at home by growing any corn variety and picking it when the silk first appears and the corn ears are two to four inches long as detailed in this post.

To find non-GMO corn seeds, please see this post.

Buying Baby Corn

In the United States, baby corn can often be found precooked and canned or raw and frozen in the Asian section of the supermarket.

It might be sometimes be possible to find fresh baby corn in Asian grocery stores.

Milk Stage Corn

Prior to full maturity, the corn plant goes through the milk stage where a milky liquid oozes out of the corn kernel when pressed.

Typically sweet corn is harvested during the milk stage.

In the past it was recommended to eat sweet corn very soon after it was harvested because the sugars in the sweet corn turned into starches quickly.

Nowadays, there are varieties of sweet corn that stay sweet longer.

When corn still has its sweetness, many people prefer to consume sweet corn raw.

Flour corn is also sometimes picked during its milk stage but because it is starchier than sweet corn, most people prefer to consume it cooked.

Raw Sweet Corn

Raw sweet corn can be purchased fresh on the cob and it is also commonly sold frozen or canned.

It can be cooked on the cob or removed from the cob with a knife.

If cooked on the cob, some people prefer to first pull back the outer husks (leaves surrounding the corn cob), tear off the stringy corn silk and then pull the husk back up.

The corn silk can be saved and used to make a tea, as detailed further below.

Fermented Sweet Corn

Sweet corn on the cob can be fermented in a vinegar brine with your choice of seasonings and preserved in the refrigerator as detailed here.

Sour Corn

For a fermented corn product that keeps for month in the refrigerator, you can lacto-ferment corn in a salt brine just like you would cabbage.

A recipe to make sour corn can be found here.

Boiled Sweet Corn

Sweet corn can be boiled on cob, with or without the husks or off the cob.

Sweet corn should be placed in a pot and covered with water and a pinch of salt.

Bring water to a boil and simmer for around 5 minutes to desired level of tenderness.

Grilled Sweet Corn

Sweet corn can be grilled with our without the husks.

Grilled Sweet Corn with Husks

1. If using the husks, you will first want to pull back the outer husks (leaves surrounding the corn cob), tear off the stringy corn silk and then pull the husks back up.
2. In order to prevent the husks from burning, you will want to soak the corn cobs with husks in water for at least 20 minutes and then proceed to place on a grill at medium high heat.
3. Rotate the corn every few minutes.
4. Grilled corn should be done in about 20 minutes.

More detailed instructions can be found here.

Grilled Sweet Corn without Husks

Grilling sweet corn without the husks is a faster method.

1. Place the corn cobs over a hot grill and rotate every few minutes to get an even char.
2. Grilled sweet corn should be cooked within about 10 minutes.

More detailed instructions can be found here.

Sweet Corn Beverages

Boiled sweet corn can be turned into different types of beverages.

Typically, boiled sweet corn is blended with a plant milk and a sweetener of choice with different ratios of liquid depending on the consistency desired.

A Chinese sweet corn drink recipe can be found here.

Corn Silk

The stringy threads protruding from the corn husks are called corn silk.

Corn silk is rich in vitamins K and in antioxidants.

Corn silk has diuretic properties and has been used as a traditional remedy for a number of medical conditions as detailed here.

Corn silk can be added to salads and smoothies or used to make a tea.

Corn Silk Tea

To make corn silk tea:

1. Use one tablespoon of fresh or dried corn silk per cup of water.
2. Add corn silk and water to a pot and bring to boil.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes and let steep for another 30 minutes.
4. You can strain off the corn silk and add sweetener if desired.

If you want to dry corn silk, detailed instructions can be found here.

Mature Dried Field Corn

Field corn (typically dent or flint) is usually grown to maturity and then processed further prior to eating.

In most cases, the corn is left to dry in the field before harvesting.

Dried corn culinary uses are described below based on the final corn product appearance (whole vs ground) and processing (unprocessed, boiled, nixtamalized in an alkaline solution, roasted, or fermented).

Whole Dried Corn

One popular way to process dried corn is to rehydrate in water or an alkaline solution and then cook it fully (boiling, roasting or deep frying).

Boiled Dried Corn

The simplest way to use dried corn is to boil it in water:

1. Rinse the corn kernels and make sure to discard any kernels that appear moldy.
2. Rehydrate kernels overnight in the refrigerator by using 2 parts volume of water to 1 part volume of corn with a pinch of salt.
3. Transfer corn and water mixture to a pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for at least one hour until tender.

There is a sweet Peruvian beverage called Chicha Morada made by boiling purple dried corn as described in this recipe.

Boiled Hominy Corn

The preferred method to prepare dried corn involves rehydrating it in an alkaline solution of lime, lye or baking soda, rinsing away the alkaline solution and then boiling it until tender as detailed in this post.

The alkaline solution transforms the niacin in the corn into a form that is bioavailable to humans.

Traditionally, slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) was used in Mexico, Central and South America while lye (potassium hydroxide) leached from wood ashes was used further north in the Americas.

Nowadays, baking soda is sometimes used as well because it is easily available but lime is the preferred option because it also adds calcium.

Hominy Corn is used in a traditional Mexican stew called Pozole.

A plant-based recipe for Pozole can be found here.

Cooked hominy corn can be transformed into a bread dough by wet milling as described in this recipe.

Cooked hominy corn can be dehydrated and ground up for later use as described here.

Boiled hominy corn can also be baked, fried or air fried into crunchy corn kernels similar to Corn Nuts.

Roasted Corn Kernels

Roasting whole corn is one way to prepare it for long term use.

Popped Popcorn

The popular type of dry roasted corn is popcorn.

Popcorn is in the flint corn family and it comes in many colors with subtle flavor differences.

Popcorn can be popped in an air popper, in a covered pan over a medium hot fire with or without oil, or in a paper bag in the microwave.

This post provides eight different recipes to pop popcorn.

Toasted Corn Kernels

While Corn Nuts is a U.S. brand of toasted hominy corn, the inspiration for this product comes from a Latin American heirloom type of popcorn known as chulpe corn.

Toasted corn nuts are known as chancha in Peru and they will puff rather than pop.

A recipe for making chancha can be found here and the chulpe corn can be purchased in hispanic markets or online.

Milled Dried Corn

Dried field corn has been transformed milled into various types of flours and doughs.

Grits

Grits are made by coarsely grinding dent corn.

Cornmeal

Cornmeal is a result of milling dried field corn, typically dent corn to slightly finer grind than grits.

Cornmeal can be found in coarse, medium ground and has more of a gritty texture.

Store bought cornmeal can be purchased degermed with the husk sifted out or with the hull and germ kept in.

Keeping the nutritious germ makes the cornmeal more perishable – hence the value of milling your own corn at home or purchasing directly from a retail miller.

Cornmeal can be purchased in different colors depending on the variety of corn it was milled from: i.e. white, yellow, blue or red.

Cornmeal is commonly used to make cornbread and porridges.

Polenta

Polenta is typically milled from flint corn and available in coarse or medium ground.

Polenta actually refers to an Italian generic name for porridges and in Italy there are recipes for non-corn polenta.

In the United States, polenta is usually thought of as corn polenta.

Most recipes for polenta involve a lot of stirring, but Abra Berens, the author of Grist, provides a great shortcut to making polenta:

1. Prepare a 4 to 1 ratio of water by volume to polenta flour.
2. Bring water to a boil in a pot and then whisk in polenta flour.
3. Continue whisking until water boils again.
4. Turn off heat and let the polenta mix rest in the covered hot pot for about an hour until all the water is fully absorbed.

The original recipe can be found here.

Corn Flour

Corn flour is likewise available with or without the germ and hull.

Corn flour is simply finer ground than corn meal and has more of a powdery texture.

A traditional recipe for making paper thin blue flat bread from finely ground blue Hopi corn can be found here.

Corn Starch

Corn starch contains only the starchy part of the corn, without the nutritious germ or fibrous hull.

Corn starch can be made at home by blending corn flour with water, straining out the whitish liquid overnight and letting it air dry as detailed in this post.

Masa Dough

Masa dough is made as follows:

1. Dried field corn kernels are placed in an alkaline solution and soaked overnight.
2. Hydrated corn kernels are rinsed to remove alkaline solution and hulls.
3. Sometimes the nutritious germ is removed (often in industrialized commercial preparations).
4. Corn kernels are wet milled into what is called masa dough.

Masa dough is a core ingredient in Latin American cuisine.

Masa dough is used to make a variety of flat breads including corn tortillas and the many dishes derived from it.

Masa dough is also combined with savory or sweet fillings and wrapped with various items including corn husks to make dishes such as tamales.

Masa Harina Flour

Masa harina flour is simply masa dough that has been dehydrated for later use.

When using masa harina, you will want to add enough liquid to rehydrate it and then proceed to making the same recipes as can be made with masa dough.

Masa harina flour can be mixed with cacao to make a variety of traditional Mexican chocolate beverages such as tejate and champurrado.

Parched Corn Flour

Parched corn is made by rehydrating field corn or hominy corn, roasting the corn and then grinding it into flour.

Parched corn is used to make pinole by blending it with spices and chia seeds and described in this recipe.

Pinole was used by Native Americans when traveling long journeys and it is still used today by the Tarahumara tribe long distance runners of Mexico.

Hominy Grits

Hominy grits are made as follows:

1. Dried field corn kernels are placed in an alkaline solution and soaked overnight.
2. Hydrated corn kernels are rinsed to remove alkaline solution and hulls.
3. Sometimes the nutritious germ is removed (often in industrialized commercial preparations).
4. Corn kernels are then dehydrated and milled into a finer grind than regular grits.

A plant based recipe using hominy grits can be found here.

Fermented Corn Dough

Fermenting grains is a traditional way to make their nutrients more bioavailable and digestible.

There is a fermented corn dough called ogi in Nigeria which is used to make a sweet porridge.

To make ogi from scratch, white dent corn is fermented in water for several days, wet milled, passed through a sieve and fermented for several more days before being used to make the porridge as explained in this post.

Conclusion

Well there you have it, a wide overview of the many culinary uses of corn.

I hope the above will interest you in new ways to use corn and perhaps help you try varieties you were not aware of before.

If you are looking for online sources of non-GMO, heirloom corn, be sure to check this post.

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