From mid-July to mid-August the weather here is stifling. It isn't uncommon to have weeks like the one we're having now where the temps are 90+ with 95% humidity. And I hate HATE hate humidity. But this is my favorite part of summers in Minnesota for one reason and one reason alone: SWEET CORN!!
I know it's coming when the little street stands start popping up. Then, before we know it, the pickup trucks start pulling into gas stations with beds full of delicious Minnesota sweet corn. And I know you can get corn on the cob anywhere in the world, but there is nothing that tastes quite as good as the fresh-off-the-stalk lovliness of the stuff they grow here.
The first time I had it was when my brother and I came out here from VA to spend a summer with my grandma. I remember her being so excited because it was almost time for the corn to ripen and I was all "who cares? You can buy it in the freezer section at the grocery story year-round!"
And then I tasted it. For that blissful four weeks time, we ate corn on the cob with every meal. In fact, some nights is WAS our meal. It was a slow night if the five of us only went through a dozen ears. After that summer, I was hooked. So it was my little bright spot when we moved here (at least I'll get sweet corn again!), and has been the one thing that keeps me going all through the summer every year since then.
Yesterday we finally got our first batch. And this weekend we'll be eating as much as we can jam down our throats. Not to mention that Redneck Mom should be calling us up to their farm to pick some more.
Soon it'll all be gone, and we'll be so tired of corn that we won't eat it for a good two months. But for right now, it's my little bright spot that makes the crappy weather just a little more bearable.
Does your region of the globe grow anything that you look forward to?
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7 comments:
So you guys are getting this heatwave too, eh? Man, it's hot and humid! But you're right, GOOD corn is a serious pay-off. I can hardly wait for my corn to be ripe. My husband accuses me of being a corn snob, because I refuse to grow anything but supersweet and he grew up on what I jokingly (sort of) refer to as 'cow corn.' I refuse to eat anything but the best, and am growing a ton of it in the garden this year. Arghh, I don't think I can wait another 3 weeks....
Yeesh...I hate the humidity too. It feels like a wet blanket around here, and for some reason I feel like everything is stinky and gross. We LOVE sweet corn, and some of it grows around here, but the big thing here is Walla Walla sweet onions-yum! You can eat them plain in sandwiches they're so good!
We have no humidity here, but it still sucks. Hubby is from Iowa and he is so darn picky about his corn. I never knew why until I tried some of the sweet corn that isn't meant for the pigs. Apparently it is hard to find that here in Colorado.
Enjoy your corn!
This is totally off the subject but I saw you were listening to Amy Winehouse - isn't she fabulous? I loaned it to my boss before I had listened to it properly - especially the Mr Jones song with the curse words - oops! I think Rehab is still my favorite and I play it in the car and Ned sings along to it. Pretty funny having a three year old sing "they tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no"!!
Happy listening.
we also get some pretty stellar sweet corn here in Idaho.
Obviously though my favorite homegrown thing is potatoes. Fresh from the ground, rinsed, sliced and fried. Or baked, fresh from the ground. Or boiled and mashed, or....what the heck I like them anyway you slice it.
We also get really good raspberries and huckleberries about this time. they are so good, but don't last long, because we eat them as fast as they can grow.
We have our very own LARGE raspberry bush right in the back yard. yum!!!!
Valley Girl-It's been MISERABLE! Those kinds of days where you go outside and you're instantly a sweat ball.
Baseball Mom-Not a fan of onions, but you make them sound good! :)
Mommy-LOL I know exactly what you mean. I didn't get it until I tried it.
Molly-I can totally hear Ned singing along with my two little munchkins "I said no, no, no" lol
Jenn-So jealous of your raspberry bush! The Redneck parents have a few, but their dog (or my kids) usually gets to them before I can. SUCKS!
Quit yore complainin!!!
Down South we call it "air you can wear" and have from 45-120 days of it. August is the most opressive everywhere.Our low for the next 10 days is 72-75 and high near 100 with dew point within 5 of ambient.
As for good groceries
Spring =turnip greens and Poke salad
early summer = sweet corn
, red taters and finally MATERS!!! Tomatoes for those of you who have challenged vocabularies,
mid summer till you get tired of picking the blame stuff= okra, cucumbers, purple hull and crowder peas,butter beans and more MATERS!!
Late summer -MATERS off the vine every day. The freezers full let everything else go to seed.
Fall= Sweet Potatoes and MATERS!! ain't let them puppies die yet.Also plant winter garden more red taters, collard greens and a few onions.
Decmeber-Jan we feast on the fruits of our labor. There was frost this morning and it too cold to do much outside.
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