Monday, August 24, 2009

Bargain Mirai Corn

High winds late last week did a number on Tom Culton’s corn crop, with multitudinous stalks blown down to the ground. (Corn has notoriously shallow roots given the height of the stalks.) So, Tom picked up the ears from the ground and put them on sale at the Headhouse Square Farmers Market for $3 a dozen.

I shucked half a dozen, striped off the kernels and put them in the freezer, then nuked some ears for dinner (they could be eaten raw, they are so sweet, but I wanted to put butter on them and have it melt). About half of the ears I shucked had just a tiny bit of deterioration at the very end, easily trimmed. The remaining three ears will go into a chicken and corn chowder for dinner tonight.

Microwaving, btw, is an easy, effective and tasty way to prepare corn on the cob. After shucking and trimming, just run each ear briefly under running water, shake off the excess and wrap each ear in wax paper, twisting the ends to retain the moisture. Timing varies depending on your microwave and number of ears, but in my 22-year-old low power machine it takes just 4-6 minutes for four ears at high. Unwrap as soon as they’re done, otherwise they’ll continue to cook a bit and you tempt mushiness.

Culton’s variety of tomatoes, which last week he proclaimed as 120, is now up to 150! He was charging $3/pound.

New this week at the Silver Spring farmers’ stall was cauliflower, $4 a head, and carrots, $3.25/pound. His large variety of sweet peppers were $3/pound.

Leeks, $3 apiece, and fresh shelled beans (cowpeas and limas, $5 for a half-pint) were featured at Yoder Heirlooms.

Blackberries were still available at both Beechwood Orchards and Three Springs Fruit Farm. The latter was selling them for $5 a full pint.

Over at Weaver’s Way it was salsa time, if you wanted to make your own. Tomatillos were $3/pint and hot peppers $4/pound. They also had cilantro. Cherry tomatoes were $4 pint. There was also a big variety of hot peppers at A.T. Buzby, 10 for a buck.

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