Oven-Dried Sweet Corn

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PHOTO: JEAN GARDNER
You haven't enjoyed corn until you've tasted oven-dried.

While modern in many ways, I admire the old ways before the advent of freezers. The hardy pioneers and Mormons who homesteaded the West used their ingenuity and imaginations to eke out a living, store their harvests and prosper. Taking a tip from them, I oven dry a good share of my harvest, both for my own enjoyment and for the well-being of my family. Of all the foods I preserve in this way, the process of drying corn and the sweet result of it is the most pleasurable.

When corn is ready to pick, I carefully select the best ears, husk and silk them, leaving the last bit of stump-end (close to the ear) and the tip-end intact. The stump makes a good handhold, and the tip a good rest, when cutting the corn from the cob.

I lose as little time as possible in preparation so none of the goodness is lost. First, I plunge the ears into a large covered kettle of boiling water for five minutes to set the milk in the kernels, then dunk them in cold water with ice cubes to stop the cooking.

After the corn is cooled enough to handle, I cut the kernels off the cob, holding the ear upright by the little stump and using a sharp paring knife to cut downward toward the tip-end, being careful not to cut too close to the cob. Then I scrape the cob, using the back of the knife, to get all the milk and kernel hearts.

  • Published on Jun 1, 1999
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