Cease Tossing Your Corn Cobs—You are Losing Liquid Gold

Summer season corn is already a famous person—candy, juicy, crunchy. It is the diva of the produce part, the Mariah Carey of midsummer markets. However in the event you’re solely harvesting the kernels and instantly tossing these bare cobs within the trash or compost bin proper after slicing, you are lacking out on the key weapon: corn milk. Sure, milk, like from a cow. However corn.

Milk Corn

Corn milk is the liquid and wonderful pulp you’ll be able to scrape from the cob after chopping off the kernels. It is wealthy in sugar and starch—mainly, corn taste focus in gloopy kind. When used thoughtfully, it deepens the corn taste of any dish and boosts sweetness naturally. And whereas it is not barista-friendly like precise milk, it provides a delicate creamy physique with out a lick of cream.

Whereas corn milk is liquid gold, utilizing it does require a bit finesse. Should you use it straight off the cob, it may well impart an disagreeable gritty texture to dishes. Straining it via a fine-mesh sieve solves this subject to supply a easy, subtly candy liquid to spice up to your corn dish. Milking your corn is about as rustic because it will get, which is code for, “You do not want particular tools, however issues might get messy.” This is how you can do it at residence:

1. Reduce the kernels from the cob: Shuck and trim your corn, then slice off the kernels with a pointy knife.

2. Milk the corn: Working with one cob at a time, maintain it over a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl (or straight over the pan you’re cooking in). Utilizing the again of your knife, scrape firmly backwards and forwards alongside the cob to extract the juices and starchy pulp.

3. Extract as a lot milk as attainable: Utilizing a ladle or a spatula, press the pulp within the fine-mesh sieve to extract as a lot liquid as attainable. That is key. You are aiming for a golden liquid—thick, however easy—not a gritty slurry.

4. Add the milk to your corn dish. Stir the extracted liquid into your sauté pan, sauce, or soup after you have sweated your aromatics and simply earlier than including any liquid or the corn itself. This timing lets the corn milk gently focus within the pan’s residual warmth, blooming its sweetness and thickening energy with out scorching it. It is a fast, simple transfer that makes your corn style much more like itself—in the absolute best approach.

When to Use Corn Milk

Listed below are a number of dishes which might be significantly improved by corn milk’s behind-the-scenes magic. 

• Add it to a creamy corn pasta dish, chowder, or risotto. It enhances physique and corn taste with out the necessity for heavy cream.
• Fold it right into a cheese-heavy dish resembling Kansas Metropolis tacky corn or a cheddar cornbread. Corn milk balances salty and sharp cheeses with mild sweetness.
• Fold it into easy sautéed corn or esquites. Perhaps your ears weren’t fairly peak-summer good. Including corn milk is an effective way to boost the flavour of common corn. 
• Stir a spoonful into grits or polenta, or add it to a French dressing for a candy, vegetal spine.

So in the event you’re already going to the difficulty of shucking and slicing recent summer season corn, do not cease quick. Take a minute or two to exploit these cobs and squeeze out each final drop of sweetness, starch, and taste. It is the distinction between “fairly good” corn dishes and ones that style like the easiest of summer season.