Mir: I had to google what is “shuck an ear of corn” and I still can’t work out is it peeling the outside or getting the little corn things off.

Both my grandpas were farmers and yet the only shred of that still living in me is an ability to shuck an ear of corn completely clean in two or three motions

I had to google what is “shuck an ear of corn” and I still can’t work out is it peeling the outside or getting the little corn things off.

Outside — husk and silk, everything that isn’t on the cob when you eat it

Got ya. I didn’t know corn came in that leaf thing until now I thought it just grew how you eat it.

You can actually grow corn in containers, it still gets tall af, of course. But it's a fun project if you have limited space, one year I grew that purple amethyst corn with the lavender & pink kernels in two big pots.

I’m Irish and I don’t think we can grow corn here but that would be awesome. I guess it could grow in a greenhouse

There are definitely places in Canada that grow corn further north than you!

Ok I don’t know for sure if we grow corn or not but I’ve never seen it. Also Ireland stays mid it doesn’t get too hot or cool like more northern countries

I grow it in Northumberland UK, in a polytunnel. Fresh sweetcorn is amazing!

I am not sure that this "forage maize" is the same as what we call corn here in the US, but you can, apparently, grow something of the sort in Ireland. So, if you REALLY want to do it.... www.farminglife.com/business/the...

The full potential of forage maize is now being realisedwww.farminglife.com The past few months have clearly confirmed that forage maize is no longer a Cinderella crop within local agriculture, writes Richard Halleron.

That sounds interesting! Did you manually pollinate?

You can hand pollinate just to be sure each kernel is pollinated. I did them in pots outside though, & the bugs did most of the work. I live in NW Florida & have a very elaborate butterfly garden out back to draw bugs to pollinate my other vegetables like tomatoes & peppers.

When you said grown in pots, I imagined a corner of your living room. 🤣 Outside is good, yes! Thank you for having a garden for pollinators, too!

Ohh! Yeah! It grows wrapped in leaves and strands of fiber (silk). Some folks cook or grill the corn still wrapped in leaves to protect it & hold in moisture, then peel it before they eat. Good stuff. I used to grow corn. ❤️

That’s cool. I’m going to try source some leaf covered corn this week and cook it. I presume it’s fresher that way

I’ve been told by relatives living in Europe is that they don’t necessarily stock good varieties of corn in grocery stores, but if you do find some still in the husk a fun way to cook it is peel it without completely shucking it, butter it, put the husk back into place, and grill it leaf on

Ok this is sounds amaaazing. I’ll try the farmers market they’ll probably have it

In Germany corn was generally still considered livestock feed and not for humans. They eat corn like crazy as a street food in Turkey but it’s not good… they don’t have good sweet corn there.

Yup! Nature’s freshness packaging! 🤣 You’ll have leaves then a layer of the stringy stuff. A LOT of the stringy stuff. It can be hard to clean it all off, but it’s okay if you miss some. It’s safe to eat, just not a fun texture. ❤️

it turns out that guinea pigs really like the silks, btw, and I'm sure other animals do too...

Seconded.

Alabama enters the chat! My job as a child was to shuck. Then my grandmother took the kernels off the cob with a special contraption. This was white corn, mind you… not sweet corn.

peeling the outer leaves and stringy bits

Aaaaaah ok

aka "to husk an ear of corn"

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