November 13, 2024 • 36 mins
This grain is eaten as a vegetable, right off the cob or in all kinds of dishes both savory and sweet. Anney and Lauren talk your ears off about the a-maize-ing botany and history of sweet corn.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, I'm ocome Saber production of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Res
and unlearn vogel Bum. And today we have an episode
for you about sweet corn. Yes, we do. Was there
any particular reason this was on your mind? Lauren? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, well, we were asked to put together a holiday
related episode, and although like fresh sweet corn is more
of a summer thing, I do super associate corn with
all of those like kind of heavy Victorian era fall
winter holiday dishes.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yes, I do think a lot of people use them
in holiday dishes. Not my family, but I know it happens.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh no, your family is anti corn dishes.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
No, I just think of it as more of a
summer thing. I feel like I said that very southern,
but not we don't usually of corn in the fall.
I guess. Yeah, that was the thing.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I like missed fresh corn season this year, and I'm
really mad about it. I just sort of forgot that
it was happening until it was kind of over, and
I was like, oh, curses.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, my mom she used to be a big I
can't I can't remember the name. I think it was
called silver Queen. She had a favorite type of corn.
All right, Yeah, and when it would come in. I
think it was more of an Alabama thing than a
Georgia thing. But she would like drive to get it,
Like she would find the farms.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
That had it, and she would drive to get it.
And specific corn let's go.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah. Yes, when it came in season and it was great,
I like, I loved it. She usually we would just
boil it and eat it that way and it was great.
Oh yeah, have very fond memories of it. Yeah, fresh
buttered corn is so good. I also am going through
a life long corn showder phase. It's just perennial. It's
(02:05):
just all the time, and making it is so satisfying.
You do have to buy whole cobs, and after you
cut off the kernels, you have to simmer the cobs
in your stock to get more of the corn flavor out.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Really important part of the process.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Ooh that is true, because I have had some like
like if you do the seafood boil, you yet the
corn inn even after all the kernels are removed. It
as You're right, I've never thought about that. It's nice it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, it is the little things that bring us through
and we are all in this together. So yeah, let's
talk more about sweet corn. Specifically, we'll have to do
other episodes about other varieties of corn at later times
and days.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, this one was plenty, but yes, I guess that
does bring us your question. Sweet corn. What is it?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, sweet corn is a type of grain that's eaten
as a vegetable. The part we eat, the corn kernels,
are the seeds of the plant, and they grow on long,
lightweight cobs, many white to golden yellow kernels in tight
rose on each cob, the whole thing protected by stiff,
leafy husks. Each kernel has a thin skin and a juicy, tender,
(03:32):
sort of creamy flesh. You shuck off the husks or
buy the cobs shucked, or buy the kernels off the cobs,
fresh or canned or frozen, depending on how you cook it.
The texture can wind up anywhere from crunchy to soft
to chewy, and the flavor is just kind of mildly
sweet and starchy, with a tiny bit of like a
(03:53):
floral grass kind of flavor to it. It can be
eaten simply boiled or steamed or roasted right from the
cob bit of butter and salt on there. It's straightforward
sweetness is also a really good base for strong flavors though,
like hot chili, salty cheeses, heady herbs, and spices. It
can be cut off the cob and cooked alone as
(04:14):
a side dish, or mixed into salads or stirred into
all kinds of soups and stews and casseroles. You can
keep the kernels whole or chop or blend them to
release more starch and add body to a dish. You
can bake the kernels into corn bread, the flour for
which is made from a different kind of corn, or
blend the kernels into sweet ice cream, or use them
(04:34):
as a topping or condiment on anything from pizza to ramen.
It's it's really multi purpose because it's so simple and
just kind of nice. Sweet corn is all of the
golden warm promise of summer concentrated.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, it really is. And when I was thinking
about it too, we would shuck the corn like as
a family on the porn. Oh yeah, like you have
those kind of memories of getting that fresh corn and
then having that time together of chucking it and then
enjoying it and all of these all of these multitude
(05:16):
of ways. But often yeah, just boiled, it does feel like, Yeah,
this is summer and a container.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, cravings for something I can't get right now again,
I do it to myself, all right, because okay, Yes.
Corn is an annual plant, meaning that it needs to
be replanted from seed every year because although it likes
cool evening temperatures, it does not survive frost like other grains.
(05:45):
Corn plants grow these like grass type stocks. Sweet corn
stalks grow a little bit taller than a tall person.
Each stock has these long, broad green leaves and will
grow it's called a tassel at the top of the stock.
That's the male flour or productive bit of the plant
that produces pollen. It looks like a chunky tassel well named,
but below that usually one or two branches will grow
(06:08):
off of the stock that will develop a cob. The
cob is this like light, tough tissue that grows with
several long, tough, dull green leaves protecting it, and then
many long, skinny, yellow to white strands called silk, all
connected to points along the cob where the proto kernels
(06:30):
are just starting to develop. The strands of silk poke
out through the top point of the husk and they're
part of the female reproductive bit of the plant, and
their job is to collect the pollen that falls from
the tassel and carry it in to pollinate each kernel.
There can be hundreds of individual kernels on a cob,
each pollinated by its own strand of silk. So if
(06:52):
you ever get a cob with some light gaps or
kind of little shrivel bits where kernels should be, that's
because that particular strand of silk didn't get any pollen.
But yes, if they are pollinated, the kernels will develop
this flexible but surprisingly tough skin to contain all the
water and sugars and other nutrients that make up the
flesh of the seed that a seedling would use to
(07:14):
start a new plant. But suckers, we like eating that
stuff too, yep. Sweet corn is a variety of corn,
or a number of varieties of corn, selected for their
high production of sugar and low production of starch. Other types,
known as field corn, are prized for starch and harvested
(07:36):
after the ears have died on the plant and the
kernels have dried out and converted all of those sugars
into tough starches for storage to feed that potential seedling
that could grow from each kernel. We use field corn
to feed livestock and to process into things like corn meal,
corn starch, corn syrup, ethanol, stuff like that. But we
eat sweet corn as a fresh vegetable, so we harvest
(07:58):
it when it's just mature sure, and the kernels still
have a lot of water and sugar and are really tender.
The corn will start turning those sugars into starch once
the cob is harvested, and that's why sweet corn is
best when it is very fresh, and why you should
keep it chilled and cook it soon when you get
at home. It's also why a lot of sweet corn
(08:20):
is processed for canning or freezing to preserve that sweetness
and tenderness. You could eat field corn and it's just
mature stage. This is called the milk stage because the
liquid in the kernels will look kind of whitish and
milky at this stage, but it still wouldn't be as sweet.
Because genetics is what makes sweet corn sweet. These recessive
(08:44):
mutations of a few different genes can lead to sweet
corn of different sweetness levels anywhere from like five percent
sugar content to like thirty percent, and researchers and farmers
select for those recessive traits. Corn will grow true from seed,
but it can and will cross pollinate with other types
of corn, so you have to isolate different varieties as
(09:04):
you're growing them. And yeah, it is eaten in all
all dang kinds of ways. In the US, it's definitely
associated with like summer cookouts when it's fresh, and then
when it's processed with like fall or winter feast dishes,
and just like a daily simple side dish.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I guess, yeah, every now and then I get such
a craving for grilled corn on the cops, like bits
of charts.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, kernels, oh oh, because.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I don't have a grill like you can. You can
replicate that in a couple of ways, but it's never
it's not quite the same, so I haven't had it
in forever.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Oh man, all right, we'll.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Have to savor summer barbecue.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yes, yes, If I ever make my house into something
vaguely presentable for other humans, I will totally have you
over for a cookout. It'll be great, all right. My
other favorite is girlled beets. They when you get that
jar on a slice of beet.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Oh, oh, it's so good anyway. Crush vegetables, oh so good,
so good. Well, anyway, what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Okay, corn has a decent smattering of micronutrients and a
good punch of fiber, but overall it contains a lot
more sugars than most of the other things that we
eat as vegetables, So it's not like the very best
choice of vegetable, especially if you've sort of drowned it
in butter or cream or cheese or all three, because
that's delicious, you know that. Being said, it is nice
(10:51):
to eat things that you like eating, Like, try to
think of corn as a grain, like eat a different
vegetable sometimes.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Also, in case you were wondering, your body really does
digest corn, like at least the inner bits of each kernel,
Like even if you swallow kernels totally whole. Nutrients will
leach out through the skin of the kernel into your
digestive tract. But the skin is made of cellulose, which
we cannot digest. So that's why it passes through looking
(11:24):
very much the same.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I used to think. I just wasn't swallowing you as
a kid. Oh no, you need to chew better, You
need to chew better.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Nope, Nope, that's just that's just how it is all right, well, relief, Yes,
we do have some numbers for you. We do, gosh okay.
So the US does produce the most sweet corn. We
produce so much that although we consume the most, we
still export the most. As of twenty twenty one, the
crop of sweet corn was worth some seven hundred and
(11:57):
seventy five million dollars a year. Sweet Corn is, in
fact our sixth most eaten fresh vegetable. About seventy five
percent of what's grown here is sold fresh. Most fresh
corn grown here comes from Florida, Georgia, in California. Most
processed corn comes from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest.
(12:19):
Kind of generally, in terms of processing, we can about
sixty percent of what's processed and freeze the other forty percent.
There are some corn related world records. The tallest sweet
corn plant on record was grown in twenty twenty one.
It measured forty eight feet and two inches. What that's
(12:46):
fourteen point seven meters. I don't know why that made
me nervous picturing a corn maze made of that. What?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
No, nope, I did try to go down the after
my bragging about my corn maze skill. I tried for
this episode to get to the bottom of it whether
it was related to sweetcorn. It seems like it's more
of a field corn thing, but I don't know. Let
me know, listeners, if you have any.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
There were a few other world records that I'm saving
for future corn episodes because I'm pretty sure their field
corn and I think that right, and I think that
corn mazes are part of that.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
That would make more sense to me.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, because it does for a caller usually, so okay,
But there is a Goodness record for the most kernels
of cooked sweetcorn eaten one at a time using a
cocktail stick in three minutes.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
The record was set in twenty eighteen at two hundred
and forty one kernels one at a time with a
blacktail stick in three minutes.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Wow. I gotta tell you. That's one of those things
where Myra is really struggling to process. I'm sure it
is impressive, but it's very hard to It's just super specific.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, like, sometimes more details help and sometimes they don't.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, Okay, here's another one. There's a National sweet Corn
Eating Championship which is held every year in West Palm Beach,
in which contestants eat as much corn off the cob
as they can in twelve minutes. It's a major league
eating event, and professional eater Mickey Pseudo keeps beating her
(14:39):
own records every year. As of twenty twenty four, she
was up to fifty six ears of corn in twelve minutes.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I try not to usually use language like this because
I don't want it to mean anyone's experience on this planet.
But it is so gross to watch.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Eating cord. I found a whole article about how eating corn.
I think it's from like the nineteen tens, and it
was very funny and it was about like, you can't
be lady like eating corn, so just go just go
for it. Here we are.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, oh heck, but yeah. This championship is held within
the Greater sweet Corn Fiesta that has been happening every
April in West Palm Beach for the past twenty four years.
Apparently Palm Beach County is the biggest supplier of fresh
sweet corn in the United States. And I say that
(15:39):
with such surprise because I am from I am from
that area, and I had no idea zero. Yeah, that's
like when I still regret this.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
By the way, we went to that peanut thing in Dothan, Alabama,
and a lot of my family is from there, and
I was like, I had no idea they were so
much with Penis. Yeah, who knows. It's well, here we go.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
We never I the like National Peanut Board invited us
out and we interviewed a bunch of lovely humans and
uh and we took a bunch of really interesting like
agro agricultural tours and got to talk to a lot
of really interesting people. And we still haven't done anything
with that audio becas immediately afterwards the pandemic happened.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And yes, to clarify, that is my regret. We had
a great time. The regret is that we the pandemic
happened right after that and really made it difficult because
those those episodes are so rewarding. We love doing them,
but they do take more time and effort.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And yeah, absolutely for for all of for for us
and for Andrew and so. But yeah, maybe maybe someday, yeah, yeah,
maybe our peanut Day is coming. Sweetcorn we're doing. We're
in the middle of an episode.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Here we go. There.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
There are, in fact, a lot of sweet corn festivals
around the United States. I couldn't find within the first
several Google pages. Any outside of the US, But that's
probably a locality situation. I'm sure that they exist somewhere
else anyway. Normal Illinois holds a sweet corn circus every August.
(17:22):
Illinois State University has like a robust circus program, and
so the students perform wrestling and acrobatics and aerials and
like fire shows and there's corn. Seems super cool. I
love a circus anyway. A festival in Millersport, Ohio has
been running since nineteen forty seven. It is now a
(17:44):
four day festival every August that boils up literal truckloads
of corn cobs in two thousand gallon vats. The website
says it's irresistible.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Oh yes, oh yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Have to say the corn puns. Like these folks have
been doing it a lot longer than I have, Like
we have some big shoes to fill.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
In our.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
In our title an episode description.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yes, yes, we.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Do another festival in Hoopston, Illinois. I hope I'm saying
that right. It happens over Labor Day weekend. It just
celebrated its eightieth year in twenty twenty four. They do
have a pageant a lot of these do have pageants,
from which eight contestants have gone on to win the
Miss America pageant.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
They also hold a pretty baby contest for a year
to three year olds called Cream of the Crop.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's pretty good too.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Another festival in West Point, Iowa holds a shuck fest
a few days before the main event, in which the
community comes together to shuck the corn for the ensuing
festival as fast as they can some twenty five thousand
years in about an hour fifteen. Wow, that's about twenty
(19:07):
tons of corn.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
They and several other festivals that I read about use
an antique steam engine to cook.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
All of that corn.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And then yeah, there's one in sun Prairie, Wisconsin that's
been running for seventy one years now that serves up
about eighty tons of corn every year.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's a lot of corn.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
It's quite a bit of corn. It's an impressive amount
of corn.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Stunning. I'm stunned.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh but interestingly enough, sweet corn isn't that old. This
is a relatively new phenomenon.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It is, and we will get into that. But first
we're going to get into a quick break for word
from response and we're back thank you, sponsor.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Okay, so yes, because corn is a humongous topic, we
are focusing on a specific varietal. It did remind me
of when we did Rice and I ran into before
physics for the first time. I ran into that again
researching this, and I was like, oh no, no, no, glad,
we broke this down. Yes, I'm still sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Oh gosh, we were younger back then, we were still learning,
still are, but much much further to go back then.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
But yes, ancient corn goes back to prehistoric times, likely
to what is now South America and Mexico, and it's
believed it spread and hybridized up through Central America and
then later from there in North America. Lots of research
still going into that. While sweetcorn had undoubtedly occurred before
(21:06):
amongst people that grew it, it either wasn't desired or
it was too difficult to consistently cultivate, or both, though
I'm sure the record we have is incomplete around that.
There are a few known instances of indigenous communities that
did purposefully grow for it, though, like the Hodenashani in
what is now Upstate New York. According to some sources,
(21:27):
the Holden Ashane people developed the original strain of sweetcorn
in seventeen fifty and they called it Poppun. However, it
wasn't grown often because the sugar converted quickly to starch,
so it just didn't last long.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Some records indicate that this varietal of corn was being
commercially grown in Pennsylvania in seventeen seventy nine. A weekly
publication in Plymouth called The Old Colony Memorial featured this
question submitted by a reader in eighteen twenty two. Quote
where came the sweet corn? And at what time was
(22:03):
it introduced? Which side note? I just liked that at
the time people were writing in, Yeah, you about the
sweet corn?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, wentz came the sweet corn?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And here here we are today as proodcasters and a
farmer wrote in with an answer, Oh yes. According to
the writer, they observed this corn in New York in
seventeen seventy nine. According to them, it was pretty popular
and it seemed to take off fairly quickly where it
was grown, and recipes utilizing sweet corn proliferated in American
(22:37):
cookbooks around this time. Writings from the eighteenth century indicate
that it was popular cross class lines, especially in late summer,
people ate it off the cob as a street snack
and at nice dinners, perhaps with the aid of doilies.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh I love that right, I need my corn doilies.
Where are my corn doilies worn?
Speaker 1 (22:57):
There is a corner of the internet you can go
to that I found doing this sweet search more on
that in a second. Googles for later. Fun googles for later,
but unfortunately not so fun ing. Seventeen seventy nine is
also the same year George Washington ordered the decimation of
(23:19):
the crops of indigenous peoples who in any way aided
or allied themselves with the British during the Revolutionary War.
Many were killed, those who weren't were forced to flee
their livestock and crops were destroyed. It is very likely
that sweetcorn was stolen during this campaign after years of
(23:39):
selective breeding and earning that knowledge from the indigenous peoples,
and that's where a lot of sweetcorn at the time
came from. And of course that history is often erased
and the credit stolen. So important note when it comes
to canned corn. A cookstove manufactured by the name of
(24:00):
Nathan Winslow out of Portland, Maine, came up with a safe,
efficient method of canning corn in the eighteen thirties. First
the kernels were removed from the cob, then they were
placed in a canon heated to kill any bacteria, and
then they were hand sealed inside. Nathan and his brother
launched their successful canned corn factory in eighteen thirty two.
(24:22):
I tried to because I got a lot of mixed
up dates about not that but canned corn in general.
And I think creamed canned corn is like a nineteen
fifties name. That was when a lot of people were
like in nineteen fifties, And then I found all this
stuff saying no, it was definitely definitely eighteen thirties, So
I think that was probably canned cream corn. But anyway,
(24:46):
according to Food and Wine, a woman named Mary Donnelly
filed a patent for a corn fork in eighteen ninety seven.
And Lauren, this is where I suggest you go if
you need to just catch it.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
This is this is my corn corn doily moment. Because
we're talking about corn spears now.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
They are very very fancy ones. So it was sort
of like a pacifier handle shape with three prongs. This
early one. Later in nineteen oh nine, Carl Baummeisler filed
a patent for a different type of corn holder that
was more of like a miniature sword. Okay, ye stabbed in.
But the problem was, like it took a lot of force.
(25:26):
In the fifties, this design evolved into the one that
many of us are familiar with now, the one that
I used growing up, which are like the little mini
corn on the cobs. That's the sap of it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's a shape of a corn cob
and you stick and it's got little prongs and you
stick the prongs into your real corn cob in order
to eat it.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
It's great. I love it. It's so funny. It's bizarre.
But I guess it is clear, like, oh, this is
what this is. This is probably corn related. But yeah,
the corn holder innovation was not done. In nineteen seventy seven,
Larry Ridinger and George Specter came up with a sort
(26:07):
of corkscrew design because again there's still like an issue
of if the cob was particularly tough yea for so
they were trying to come up with something that was
like a little easier. Sure, later companies started offering holders
that you inserted before cooking so that the consumer could
avoid touching the hot corn altogether. I've never seen.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
This, No, And I would think that they would heat
up just as much as the corn in the boiling process.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
But I think.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
I don't know materials science.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
There's no way of finding out.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Zero and then corn science. A corn geneticist working at
the University of Illinois named John Loughnan started experimenting with
two genes corn, discovering that one type of kernels stored
four to ten times more sugar. And he published these
findings at nineteen fifty three, but people didn't really pay
(27:09):
much attention to them at first, so he started producing
varieties of sweet corn himself, including the Golden Cross Bantam.
He released these varieties through the Illinois Foundation Seeds, Incorporated
in nineteen sixty one. Other professors across the country started
developing their own varieties too. I always love when we
(27:31):
get to use a varietal name and like, I know
people in the farming industry are like.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Oh that are like, oh yeah, that one, that's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
It's like when I say, like a random Star Wars
thing and no one gets it, but I get it.
But I feel like that's kind of the farmer's version. Yeah. Yeah.
In the nineteen seventies and eighties, corn growers and crop
scientists started selectively breeding sweetcorns so that the corn both
produced higher levels of sugar and delayed the decay of
(27:59):
the conversion of that sugar to start so that it
occurred at a much slower rate, and that that in
turn boosted the previously short shelf life right right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Basically, like I think that there are three different genes
that we know of that are responsible for the sugar
production and shelf life of the sugar in sweet corn,
and so during this time people were just like finding
them and starting to develop different hybrids while selecting for
those things. Yes, production of sweet corn for processing in
(28:33):
the United States has been in a steep decline though
for a couple of decades, Like a quarter less was
grown in the twenty oots than in the nineteen nineties
and a third less in the twenty teens than in
the twenty oots. And the reasons for this are complicated.
Americans are switching away from canned foods to more fresh
(28:54):
and frozen foods. They're also eating less sweet corn in general. Also,
due to climate change, it is riskier for farmers to
grow corn if they're relying on rainfall, if they don't
have irrigation systems set up, and research into new hybrids
is intense and ongoing, especially as right climate change is
(29:16):
making growing conditions in some traditional areas less ideal.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yep, yep. And there are several indigenous organizations and projects
about restoring and revitalizing Native American food ways and crops,
including corn varieties like sweetcorn. So I highly recommend looking
those up because they're being really cool important stuff. Yeah. Yeah,
(29:43):
there's a lot, a lot to unpack with this one,
a lot of different routes we could have gone down,
but I think that's what we have to say about
steatcorn for now. It is.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
We would love to hear from you, though, all of
your corniest memories, anything you've got to say about it. Sorry,
I'm sorry. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from a quick break. For a
word from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
(30:25):
thank you, And we're back with listeners.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
By sunshine summer, even though we're fast approaching winter. Yes, well,
this brought us a spot of joy, I will say, yes,
this is an absolute banger. So we asked in our
(30:53):
pumpkin short uh in passing, I was like, somebody needs
to make a pumpkin patch version of Monster Mash, and
listener Ruth came through, came through.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Oh my goodness, Yes, And and I will say that
the like, the like, like like diction, the like cadence
of the lyrics of the song Monster Mash are a
little bit tricky. I did watch a few versions of
the original performance of it. If you have never seen
(31:30):
Bobby Pickett performing Monster Mash, you need to look that
up because he is just absolutely hamming all of the
facial like like like beyond what I even considered possible.
He is really hamming it up and it's gorgeous. So
recommend that.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yes, it is my favorite. It's I think it's my favorite.
It's definitely one of my favorite Halloween songs. And like
just when I like, even though I could just hear
it my head, like a touch of it, like yes.
Also shout out to uh recent what we do in
the Shadows episode where Laslow looked at the camera and said,
(32:12):
very seriously, I fear it will be a monster mash.
All were still a graveyard smash. It was so good.
Blessed not Mary. Yes, So I wasn't planning on singing
my part. I don't know what you're going to do.
(32:32):
I was just gonna read it with a little.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Bit of a yeah, try to get the inflection. Yeah,
all right, we're on the same page.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Great.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Yeah, I don't think anyone needs a singing anymore than
we already do in the.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yes, agreed, all right. I was working in the patch
late one night when my eyes beheld a weirdish sight.
These people with hammers began to rise, and suddenly, to
my surprise, they did the smash. They did the pumpkin smash.
The pumpkin smash. It caught on in a flash. They
(33:09):
did the pumpkin smash. Then composting was such fun. The
smashing had just the gun. The guests included Peter Piper
with his wife and his son. They came to a smash.
They came to a pumpkin smash. The pumpkin smash down
to a messy smash. They did the pumpkin smash. Lauren,
(33:32):
take it away. How can I compete with that? How
can I follow that out? Okay?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Who down from a hilltop a voisted ring. It was
Midbuster's atom with a great big thing. He goes, hey,
I just came to say, you gotta see me smash
with my trebichet so he could smash a long distance smash.
He did the smash, He did the pumpkin smash. You
gotta admit it's a crazy plan, but the pumpkin and
(34:00):
smash is the hit of the land. If you want
to join us, you can smash too. When you get
to the patch, tell them save or sent you and
you can smash. You can pumpkin smash. It's a real
smashing time. Yes, come on and smash, Come on in
pumpkin smash. Beautiful, beautiful poetry, absolute of art.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Thank you so much. Truth.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
This was a real again the little things, it's the
little thing. I'm not calling this this achievement little, but.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
If the joy it brought us was enormous, so uh
and that it is important in these times. So thank you,
thank you, thank you, thank you. Honestly, like, if we
have more time, I put like I make this whole hit.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I mean you know, like like
like as we've talked about on the show before, like
super producer. You're Andrew and Dylan are actually both quite
talented musicians. They are, and so like we could we
could do this. It sounds like an excellent use of
our time. It does, I'm saying seriously, you.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Know, I'm laughing because I believe you entirely. Well, always
send any songs. Uh yeah, this was really fun, so
thank you. Yes, you can send any any songs, our
(35:39):
puns or recipes or thoughts our suggestions are a way.
You can email us at hello at savorpod dot com.
We're also on social media.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Yes,
that's where we are and we do hope to hear
from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast Tests, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, I'm ocome Saber production of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Res
and unlearn vogel Bum. And today we have an episode
for you about sweet corn. Yes, we do. Was there
any particular reason this was on your mind? Lauren? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, well, we were asked to put together a holiday
related episode, and although like fresh sweet corn is more
of a summer thing, I do super associate corn with
all of those like kind of heavy Victorian era fall
winter holiday dishes.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yes, I do think a lot of people use them
in holiday dishes. Not my family, but I know it happens.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh no, your family is anti corn dishes.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
No, I just think of it as more of a
summer thing. I feel like I said that very southern,
but not we don't usually of corn in the fall.
I guess. Yeah, that was the thing.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I like missed fresh corn season this year, and I'm
really mad about it. I just sort of forgot that
it was happening until it was kind of over, and
I was like, oh, curses.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, my mom she used to be a big I
can't I can't remember the name. I think it was
called silver Queen. She had a favorite type of corn.
All right, Yeah, and when it would come in. I
think it was more of an Alabama thing than a
Georgia thing. But she would like drive to get it,
Like she would find the farms.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
That had it, and she would drive to get it.
And specific corn let's go.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah. Yes, when it came in season and it was great,
I like, I loved it. She usually we would just
boil it and eat it that way and it was great.
Oh yeah, have very fond memories of it. Yeah, fresh
buttered corn is so good. I also am going through
a life long corn showder phase. It's just perennial. It's
(02:05):
just all the time, and making it is so satisfying.
You do have to buy whole cobs, and after you
cut off the kernels, you have to simmer the cobs
in your stock to get more of the corn flavor out.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Really important part of the process.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Ooh that is true, because I have had some like
like if you do the seafood boil, you yet the
corn inn even after all the kernels are removed. It
as You're right, I've never thought about that. It's nice it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, it is the little things that bring us through
and we are all in this together. So yeah, let's
talk more about sweet corn. Specifically, we'll have to do
other episodes about other varieties of corn at later times
and days.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, this one was plenty, but yes, I guess that
does bring us your question. Sweet corn. What is it?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, sweet corn is a type of grain that's eaten
as a vegetable. The part we eat, the corn kernels,
are the seeds of the plant, and they grow on long,
lightweight cobs, many white to golden yellow kernels in tight
rose on each cob, the whole thing protected by stiff,
leafy husks. Each kernel has a thin skin and a juicy, tender,
(03:32):
sort of creamy flesh. You shuck off the husks or
buy the cobs shucked, or buy the kernels off the cobs,
fresh or canned or frozen, depending on how you cook it.
The texture can wind up anywhere from crunchy to soft
to chewy, and the flavor is just kind of mildly
sweet and starchy, with a tiny bit of like a
(03:53):
floral grass kind of flavor to it. It can be
eaten simply boiled or steamed or roasted right from the
cob bit of butter and salt on there. It's straightforward
sweetness is also a really good base for strong flavors though,
like hot chili, salty cheeses, heady herbs, and spices. It
can be cut off the cob and cooked alone as
(04:14):
a side dish, or mixed into salads or stirred into
all kinds of soups and stews and casseroles. You can
keep the kernels whole or chop or blend them to
release more starch and add body to a dish. You
can bake the kernels into corn bread, the flour for
which is made from a different kind of corn, or
blend the kernels into sweet ice cream, or use them
(04:34):
as a topping or condiment on anything from pizza to ramen.
It's it's really multi purpose because it's so simple and
just kind of nice. Sweet corn is all of the
golden warm promise of summer concentrated.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, it really is. And when I was thinking
about it too, we would shuck the corn like as
a family on the porn. Oh yeah, like you have
those kind of memories of getting that fresh corn and
then having that time together of chucking it and then
enjoying it and all of these all of these multitude
(05:16):
of ways. But often yeah, just boiled, it does feel like, Yeah,
this is summer and a container.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, cravings for something I can't get right now again,
I do it to myself, all right, because okay, Yes.
Corn is an annual plant, meaning that it needs to
be replanted from seed every year because although it likes
cool evening temperatures, it does not survive frost like other grains.
(05:45):
Corn plants grow these like grass type stocks. Sweet corn
stalks grow a little bit taller than a tall person.
Each stock has these long, broad green leaves and will
grow it's called a tassel at the top of the stock.
That's the male flour or productive bit of the plant
that produces pollen. It looks like a chunky tassel well named,
but below that usually one or two branches will grow
(06:08):
off of the stock that will develop a cob. The
cob is this like light, tough tissue that grows with
several long, tough, dull green leaves protecting it, and then
many long, skinny, yellow to white strands called silk, all
connected to points along the cob where the proto kernels
(06:30):
are just starting to develop. The strands of silk poke
out through the top point of the husk and they're
part of the female reproductive bit of the plant, and
their job is to collect the pollen that falls from
the tassel and carry it in to pollinate each kernel.
There can be hundreds of individual kernels on a cob,
each pollinated by its own strand of silk. So if
(06:52):
you ever get a cob with some light gaps or
kind of little shrivel bits where kernels should be, that's
because that particular strand of silk didn't get any pollen.
But yes, if they are pollinated, the kernels will develop
this flexible but surprisingly tough skin to contain all the
water and sugars and other nutrients that make up the
flesh of the seed that a seedling would use to
(07:14):
start a new plant. But suckers, we like eating that
stuff too, yep. Sweet corn is a variety of corn,
or a number of varieties of corn, selected for their
high production of sugar and low production of starch. Other types,
known as field corn, are prized for starch and harvested
(07:36):
after the ears have died on the plant and the
kernels have dried out and converted all of those sugars
into tough starches for storage to feed that potential seedling
that could grow from each kernel. We use field corn
to feed livestock and to process into things like corn meal,
corn starch, corn syrup, ethanol, stuff like that. But we
eat sweet corn as a fresh vegetable, so we harvest
(07:58):
it when it's just mature sure, and the kernels still
have a lot of water and sugar and are really tender.
The corn will start turning those sugars into starch once
the cob is harvested, and that's why sweet corn is
best when it is very fresh, and why you should
keep it chilled and cook it soon when you get
at home. It's also why a lot of sweet corn
(08:20):
is processed for canning or freezing to preserve that sweetness
and tenderness. You could eat field corn and it's just
mature stage. This is called the milk stage because the
liquid in the kernels will look kind of whitish and
milky at this stage, but it still wouldn't be as sweet.
Because genetics is what makes sweet corn sweet. These recessive
(08:44):
mutations of a few different genes can lead to sweet
corn of different sweetness levels anywhere from like five percent
sugar content to like thirty percent, and researchers and farmers
select for those recessive traits. Corn will grow true from seed,
but it can and will cross pollinate with other types
of corn, so you have to isolate different varieties as
(09:04):
you're growing them. And yeah, it is eaten in all
all dang kinds of ways. In the US, it's definitely
associated with like summer cookouts when it's fresh, and then
when it's processed with like fall or winter feast dishes,
and just like a daily simple side dish.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I guess, yeah, every now and then I get such
a craving for grilled corn on the cops, like bits
of charts.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, kernels, oh oh, because.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I don't have a grill like you can. You can
replicate that in a couple of ways, but it's never
it's not quite the same, so I haven't had it
in forever.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Oh man, all right, we'll.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Have to savor summer barbecue.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yes, yes, If I ever make my house into something
vaguely presentable for other humans, I will totally have you
over for a cookout. It'll be great, all right. My
other favorite is girlled beets. They when you get that
jar on a slice of beet.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Oh, oh, it's so good anyway. Crush vegetables, oh so good,
so good. Well, anyway, what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Okay, corn has a decent smattering of micronutrients and a
good punch of fiber, but overall it contains a lot
more sugars than most of the other things that we
eat as vegetables, So it's not like the very best
choice of vegetable, especially if you've sort of drowned it
in butter or cream or cheese or all three, because
that's delicious, you know that. Being said, it is nice
(10:51):
to eat things that you like eating, Like, try to
think of corn as a grain, like eat a different
vegetable sometimes.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Also, in case you were wondering, your body really does
digest corn, like at least the inner bits of each kernel,
Like even if you swallow kernels totally whole. Nutrients will
leach out through the skin of the kernel into your
digestive tract. But the skin is made of cellulose, which
we cannot digest. So that's why it passes through looking
(11:24):
very much the same.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I used to think. I just wasn't swallowing you as
a kid. Oh no, you need to chew better, You
need to chew better.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Nope, Nope, that's just that's just how it is all right, well, relief, Yes,
we do have some numbers for you. We do, gosh okay.
So the US does produce the most sweet corn. We
produce so much that although we consume the most, we
still export the most. As of twenty twenty one, the
crop of sweet corn was worth some seven hundred and
(11:57):
seventy five million dollars a year. Sweet Corn is, in
fact our sixth most eaten fresh vegetable. About seventy five
percent of what's grown here is sold fresh. Most fresh
corn grown here comes from Florida, Georgia, in California. Most
processed corn comes from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest.
(12:19):
Kind of generally, in terms of processing, we can about
sixty percent of what's processed and freeze the other forty percent.
There are some corn related world records. The tallest sweet
corn plant on record was grown in twenty twenty one.
It measured forty eight feet and two inches. What that's
(12:46):
fourteen point seven meters. I don't know why that made
me nervous picturing a corn maze made of that. What?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
No, nope, I did try to go down the after
my bragging about my corn maze skill. I tried for
this episode to get to the bottom of it whether
it was related to sweetcorn. It seems like it's more
of a field corn thing, but I don't know. Let
me know, listeners, if you have any.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
There were a few other world records that I'm saving
for future corn episodes because I'm pretty sure their field
corn and I think that right, and I think that
corn mazes are part of that.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
That would make more sense to me.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, because it does for a caller usually, so okay,
But there is a Goodness record for the most kernels
of cooked sweetcorn eaten one at a time using a
cocktail stick in three minutes.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
The record was set in twenty eighteen at two hundred
and forty one kernels one at a time with a
blacktail stick in three minutes.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Wow. I gotta tell you. That's one of those things
where Myra is really struggling to process. I'm sure it
is impressive, but it's very hard to It's just super specific.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, like, sometimes more details help and sometimes they don't.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, Okay, here's another one. There's a National sweet Corn
Eating Championship which is held every year in West Palm Beach,
in which contestants eat as much corn off the cob
as they can in twelve minutes. It's a major league
eating event, and professional eater Mickey Pseudo keeps beating her
(14:39):
own records every year. As of twenty twenty four, she
was up to fifty six ears of corn in twelve minutes.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I try not to usually use language like this because
I don't want it to mean anyone's experience on this planet.
But it is so gross to watch.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Eating cord. I found a whole article about how eating corn.
I think it's from like the nineteen tens, and it
was very funny and it was about like, you can't
be lady like eating corn, so just go just go
for it. Here we are.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, oh heck, but yeah. This championship is held within
the Greater sweet Corn Fiesta that has been happening every
April in West Palm Beach for the past twenty four years.
Apparently Palm Beach County is the biggest supplier of fresh
sweet corn in the United States. And I say that
(15:39):
with such surprise because I am from I am from
that area, and I had no idea zero. Yeah, that's
like when I still regret this.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
By the way, we went to that peanut thing in Dothan, Alabama,
and a lot of my family is from there, and
I was like, I had no idea they were so
much with Penis. Yeah, who knows. It's well, here we go.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
We never I the like National Peanut Board invited us
out and we interviewed a bunch of lovely humans and
uh and we took a bunch of really interesting like
agro agricultural tours and got to talk to a lot
of really interesting people. And we still haven't done anything
with that audio becas immediately afterwards the pandemic happened.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And yes, to clarify, that is my regret. We had
a great time. The regret is that we the pandemic
happened right after that and really made it difficult because
those those episodes are so rewarding. We love doing them,
but they do take more time and effort.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And yeah, absolutely for for all of for for us
and for Andrew and so. But yeah, maybe maybe someday, yeah, yeah,
maybe our peanut Day is coming. Sweetcorn we're doing. We're
in the middle of an episode.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Here we go. There.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
There are, in fact, a lot of sweet corn festivals
around the United States. I couldn't find within the first
several Google pages. Any outside of the US, But that's
probably a locality situation. I'm sure that they exist somewhere
else anyway. Normal Illinois holds a sweet corn circus every August.
(17:22):
Illinois State University has like a robust circus program, and
so the students perform wrestling and acrobatics and aerials and
like fire shows and there's corn. Seems super cool. I
love a circus anyway. A festival in Millersport, Ohio has
been running since nineteen forty seven. It is now a
(17:44):
four day festival every August that boils up literal truckloads
of corn cobs in two thousand gallon vats. The website
says it's irresistible.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Oh yes, oh yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Have to say the corn puns. Like these folks have
been doing it a lot longer than I have, Like
we have some big shoes to fill.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
In our.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
In our title an episode description.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yes, yes, we.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Do another festival in Hoopston, Illinois. I hope I'm saying
that right. It happens over Labor Day weekend. It just
celebrated its eightieth year in twenty twenty four. They do
have a pageant a lot of these do have pageants,
from which eight contestants have gone on to win the
Miss America pageant.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
They also hold a pretty baby contest for a year
to three year olds called Cream of the Crop.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's pretty good too.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Another festival in West Point, Iowa holds a shuck fest
a few days before the main event, in which the
community comes together to shuck the corn for the ensuing
festival as fast as they can some twenty five thousand
years in about an hour fifteen. Wow, that's about twenty
(19:07):
tons of corn.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
They and several other festivals that I read about use
an antique steam engine to cook.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
All of that corn.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And then yeah, there's one in sun Prairie, Wisconsin that's
been running for seventy one years now that serves up
about eighty tons of corn every year.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's a lot of corn.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
It's quite a bit of corn. It's an impressive amount
of corn.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Stunning. I'm stunned.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh but interestingly enough, sweet corn isn't that old. This
is a relatively new phenomenon.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It is, and we will get into that. But first
we're going to get into a quick break for word
from response and we're back thank you, sponsor.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Okay, so yes, because corn is a humongous topic, we
are focusing on a specific varietal. It did remind me
of when we did Rice and I ran into before
physics for the first time. I ran into that again
researching this, and I was like, oh no, no, no, glad,
we broke this down. Yes, I'm still sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Oh gosh, we were younger back then, we were still learning,
still are, but much much further to go back then.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
But yes, ancient corn goes back to prehistoric times, likely
to what is now South America and Mexico, and it's
believed it spread and hybridized up through Central America and
then later from there in North America. Lots of research
still going into that. While sweetcorn had undoubtedly occurred before
(21:06):
amongst people that grew it, it either wasn't desired or
it was too difficult to consistently cultivate, or both, though
I'm sure the record we have is incomplete around that.
There are a few known instances of indigenous communities that
did purposefully grow for it, though, like the Hodenashani in
what is now Upstate New York. According to some sources,
(21:27):
the Holden Ashane people developed the original strain of sweetcorn
in seventeen fifty and they called it Poppun. However, it
wasn't grown often because the sugar converted quickly to starch,
so it just didn't last long.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Some records indicate that this varietal of corn was being
commercially grown in Pennsylvania in seventeen seventy nine. A weekly
publication in Plymouth called The Old Colony Memorial featured this
question submitted by a reader in eighteen twenty two. Quote
where came the sweet corn? And at what time was
(22:03):
it introduced? Which side note? I just liked that at
the time people were writing in, Yeah, you about the
sweet corn?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, wentz came the sweet corn?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And here here we are today as proodcasters and a
farmer wrote in with an answer, Oh yes. According to
the writer, they observed this corn in New York in
seventeen seventy nine. According to them, it was pretty popular
and it seemed to take off fairly quickly where it
was grown, and recipes utilizing sweet corn proliferated in American
(22:37):
cookbooks around this time. Writings from the eighteenth century indicate
that it was popular cross class lines, especially in late summer,
people ate it off the cob as a street snack
and at nice dinners, perhaps with the aid of doilies.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh I love that right, I need my corn doilies.
Where are my corn doilies worn?
Speaker 1 (22:57):
There is a corner of the internet you can go
to that I found doing this sweet search more on
that in a second. Googles for later. Fun googles for later,
but unfortunately not so fun ing. Seventeen seventy nine is
also the same year George Washington ordered the decimation of
(23:19):
the crops of indigenous peoples who in any way aided
or allied themselves with the British during the Revolutionary War.
Many were killed, those who weren't were forced to flee
their livestock and crops were destroyed. It is very likely
that sweetcorn was stolen during this campaign after years of
(23:39):
selective breeding and earning that knowledge from the indigenous peoples,
and that's where a lot of sweetcorn at the time
came from. And of course that history is often erased
and the credit stolen. So important note when it comes
to canned corn. A cookstove manufactured by the name of
(24:00):
Nathan Winslow out of Portland, Maine, came up with a safe,
efficient method of canning corn in the eighteen thirties. First
the kernels were removed from the cob, then they were
placed in a canon heated to kill any bacteria, and
then they were hand sealed inside. Nathan and his brother
launched their successful canned corn factory in eighteen thirty two.
(24:22):
I tried to because I got a lot of mixed
up dates about not that but canned corn in general.
And I think creamed canned corn is like a nineteen
fifties name. That was when a lot of people were
like in nineteen fifties, And then I found all this
stuff saying no, it was definitely definitely eighteen thirties, So
I think that was probably canned cream corn. But anyway,
(24:46):
according to Food and Wine, a woman named Mary Donnelly
filed a patent for a corn fork in eighteen ninety seven.
And Lauren, this is where I suggest you go if
you need to just catch it.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
This is this is my corn corn doily moment. Because
we're talking about corn spears now.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
They are very very fancy ones. So it was sort
of like a pacifier handle shape with three prongs. This
early one. Later in nineteen oh nine, Carl Baummeisler filed
a patent for a different type of corn holder that
was more of like a miniature sword. Okay, ye stabbed in.
But the problem was, like it took a lot of force.
(25:26):
In the fifties, this design evolved into the one that
many of us are familiar with now, the one that
I used growing up, which are like the little mini
corn on the cobs. That's the sap of it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's a shape of a corn cob
and you stick and it's got little prongs and you
stick the prongs into your real corn cob in order
to eat it.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
It's great. I love it. It's so funny. It's bizarre.
But I guess it is clear, like, oh, this is
what this is. This is probably corn related. But yeah,
the corn holder innovation was not done. In nineteen seventy seven,
Larry Ridinger and George Specter came up with a sort
(26:07):
of corkscrew design because again there's still like an issue
of if the cob was particularly tough yea for so
they were trying to come up with something that was
like a little easier. Sure, later companies started offering holders
that you inserted before cooking so that the consumer could
avoid touching the hot corn altogether. I've never seen.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
This, No, And I would think that they would heat
up just as much as the corn in the boiling process.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
But I think.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
I don't know materials science.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
There's no way of finding out.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Zero and then corn science. A corn geneticist working at
the University of Illinois named John Loughnan started experimenting with
two genes corn, discovering that one type of kernels stored
four to ten times more sugar. And he published these
findings at nineteen fifty three, but people didn't really pay
(27:09):
much attention to them at first, so he started producing
varieties of sweet corn himself, including the Golden Cross Bantam.
He released these varieties through the Illinois Foundation Seeds, Incorporated
in nineteen sixty one. Other professors across the country started
developing their own varieties too. I always love when we
(27:31):
get to use a varietal name and like, I know
people in the farming industry are like.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Oh that are like, oh yeah, that one, that's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
It's like when I say, like a random Star Wars
thing and no one gets it, but I get it.
But I feel like that's kind of the farmer's version. Yeah. Yeah.
In the nineteen seventies and eighties, corn growers and crop
scientists started selectively breeding sweetcorns so that the corn both
produced higher levels of sugar and delayed the decay of
(27:59):
the conversion of that sugar to start so that it
occurred at a much slower rate, and that that in
turn boosted the previously short shelf life right right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Basically, like I think that there are three different genes
that we know of that are responsible for the sugar
production and shelf life of the sugar in sweet corn,
and so during this time people were just like finding
them and starting to develop different hybrids while selecting for
those things. Yes, production of sweet corn for processing in
(28:33):
the United States has been in a steep decline though
for a couple of decades, Like a quarter less was
grown in the twenty oots than in the nineteen nineties
and a third less in the twenty teens than in
the twenty oots. And the reasons for this are complicated.
Americans are switching away from canned foods to more fresh
(28:54):
and frozen foods. They're also eating less sweet corn in general. Also,
due to climate change, it is riskier for farmers to
grow corn if they're relying on rainfall, if they don't
have irrigation systems set up, and research into new hybrids
is intense and ongoing, especially as right climate change is
(29:16):
making growing conditions in some traditional areas less ideal.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yep, yep. And there are several indigenous organizations and projects
about restoring and revitalizing Native American food ways and crops,
including corn varieties like sweetcorn. So I highly recommend looking
those up because they're being really cool important stuff. Yeah. Yeah,
(29:43):
there's a lot, a lot to unpack with this one,
a lot of different routes we could have gone down,
but I think that's what we have to say about
steatcorn for now. It is.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
We would love to hear from you, though, all of
your corniest memories, anything you've got to say about it. Sorry,
I'm sorry. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from a quick break. For a
word from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
(30:25):
thank you, And we're back with listeners.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
By sunshine summer, even though we're fast approaching winter. Yes, well,
this brought us a spot of joy, I will say, yes,
this is an absolute banger. So we asked in our
(30:53):
pumpkin short uh in passing, I was like, somebody needs
to make a pumpkin patch version of Monster Mash, and
listener Ruth came through, came through.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Oh my goodness, Yes, And and I will say that
the like, the like, like like diction, the like cadence
of the lyrics of the song Monster Mash are a
little bit tricky. I did watch a few versions of
the original performance of it. If you have never seen
(31:30):
Bobby Pickett performing Monster Mash, you need to look that
up because he is just absolutely hamming all of the
facial like like like beyond what I even considered possible.
He is really hamming it up and it's gorgeous. So
recommend that.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yes, it is my favorite. It's I think it's my favorite.
It's definitely one of my favorite Halloween songs. And like
just when I like, even though I could just hear
it my head, like a touch of it, like yes.
Also shout out to uh recent what we do in
the Shadows episode where Laslow looked at the camera and said,
(32:12):
very seriously, I fear it will be a monster mash.
All were still a graveyard smash. It was so good.
Blessed not Mary. Yes, So I wasn't planning on singing
my part. I don't know what you're going to do.
(32:32):
I was just gonna read it with a little.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Bit of a yeah, try to get the inflection. Yeah,
all right, we're on the same page.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Great.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Yeah, I don't think anyone needs a singing anymore than
we already do in the.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Yes, agreed, all right. I was working in the patch
late one night when my eyes beheld a weirdish sight.
These people with hammers began to rise, and suddenly, to
my surprise, they did the smash. They did the pumpkin smash.
The pumpkin smash. It caught on in a flash. They
(33:09):
did the pumpkin smash. Then composting was such fun. The
smashing had just the gun. The guests included Peter Piper
with his wife and his son. They came to a smash.
They came to a pumpkin smash. The pumpkin smash down
to a messy smash. They did the pumpkin smash. Lauren,
(33:32):
take it away. How can I compete with that? How
can I follow that out? Okay?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Who down from a hilltop a voisted ring. It was
Midbuster's atom with a great big thing. He goes, hey,
I just came to say, you gotta see me smash
with my trebichet so he could smash a long distance smash.
He did the smash, He did the pumpkin smash. You
gotta admit it's a crazy plan, but the pumpkin and
(34:00):
smash is the hit of the land. If you want
to join us, you can smash too. When you get
to the patch, tell them save or sent you and
you can smash. You can pumpkin smash. It's a real
smashing time. Yes, come on and smash, Come on in
pumpkin smash. Beautiful, beautiful poetry, absolute of art.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Thank you so much. Truth.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
This was a real again the little things, it's the
little thing. I'm not calling this this achievement little, but.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
If the joy it brought us was enormous, so uh
and that it is important in these times. So thank you,
thank you, thank you, thank you. Honestly, like, if we
have more time, I put like I make this whole hit.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I mean you know, like like
like as we've talked about on the show before, like
super producer. You're Andrew and Dylan are actually both quite
talented musicians. They are, and so like we could we
could do this. It sounds like an excellent use of
our time. It does, I'm saying seriously, you.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Know, I'm laughing because I believe you entirely. Well, always
send any songs. Uh yeah, this was really fun, so
thank you. Yes, you can send any any songs, our
(35:39):
puns or recipes or thoughts our suggestions are a way.
You can email us at hello at savorpod dot com.
We're also on social media.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Yes,
that's where we are and we do hope to hear
from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast Tests, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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