Food - Drink
How The Corn Silk Can Help You Pick Out The Best Ears Of Corn
By NATASHA BAILEY
Corn is one of the most versatile foods in the world, whether prepared fresh as grilled corn, corn fritters, and corn pudding, or dried and ground up for cornmeal and corn chips. If you prefer to eat your corn fresh, you likely know that it's bad practice to shuck corn in the store before buying, but there's still an easy way if an ear of corn is good or not.
When it comes to picking good corn, Kitchn says to focus on the corn silk at the tip of the ear. You should feel the tasseled end of the corn to see if it is “medium thick” and “slightly rounded” in shape, but the tip of the corn should not be overly plump, which is a sign of over-ripeness, and if the silk feels slimy at all, the corn is also past its prime.
A bigger tassel on the end of your corn is a good sign, so long as the silk itself feels nice and dry. The exterior of corn can tell you a lot, so there’s no need to remove the corn’s husk or poke at the kernels when in the supermarket, which makes other customers less likely to buy those ears if you decide to leave them behind.