Corn crib

“ Green corn, even in city markets, is both indifferent and dear at this season. We do better, therefore, to fall back upon the invaluable canned vegetables that have made American housewives almost independent of changing seasons. Open a can of corn one hour before it is to be cooked. When ready for it turn into a farina-kettle; pour on just enough hot water to cover it, and cook half [574] an hour. Then, add a little milk, a good lump of butter cut up in flour, pepper and salt to taste, and cook fifteen minutes longer. ”

“ Cook carefully in oiled saucepan on ring or asbestos pad, in a small quantity of water 8–12 m.; add sugar, to give the sweetness of young corn, salt and a little cream, cream sauce or butter. Heat, serve.
When corn is not too old, the nicest way to prepare it is to draw a knife down each row of kernels, then with a large sharp knife cut a thin shaving from each two rows and scrape the pulp from the cob with the back of a knife. Cook the part cut off in boiling water for 5 m., then add the pulp and cook carefully 5–8 m. longer. Season as for grated corn, omitting the sugar if corn is sweet. ”

“ When it is fresh, cut the corn from the cob, and scrape off well all that sweetest part of the corn which remains on the cob. To a pint of corn add a quart of hot water. Boil it for an hour or longer; then press it through the colander. Put into the saucepan butter the size of a small egg, and when it bubbles sprinkle in a heaping table-spoonful of sifted flour, which cook a minute, stirring it well. Now add half of the corn pulp, and, when smoothly mixed, stir in the remainder of the corn: add Cayenne pepper, salt, a scant pint of boiling milk, and a cupful of cream. ”

“ There are four sorts of Indian corn: two of which are early ripe, and two late ripe, all growing in the same manner; every single grain of this when planted produces a tall upright stalk, which has several ears hanging on the sides of it, from six to ten inches long. Each ear is wrapt up in a cover of many folds, to protect it from the injuries of the weather. In every one of these ears are several rows of grain, set close to one another, with no other partition but of a very thin husk. So that oftentimes the increase of this grain amounts to above a thousand for one. ”

“ Pick out ears near the same size, and have the water boiling when you put them in; half an hour is long enough for young corn; that which is old and hard will take an hour or more; if young corn is boiled too long, it becomes hard and indigestible.
To Fricassee Corn.
Cut green corn off the cob; put it in a pot, and just cover it with water; let it boil half an hour; mix a spoonful of flour with half a pint of rich milk, pepper, salt, parsley, thyme and a piece of butter; let it boil a few minutes, and take it up in a deep dish. Corn will do to cook in this way when too old to boil on the cob. ”

“ Put dried sweet corn into a corn popper, iron frying pan or round bottomed iron kettle; cover, and shake over the fire until the grains are browned and puffed up nearly round. Served plain, this corn supplies a complete and satisfying food, as any one will find who sits down with a nice fresh-parched porridge dish of it and chews it until it is fine and creamy in the mouth. It is much more delicious than the finest popcorn. It may be ground and eaten in cold or hot milk, nut or dairy, and it may have a little salt and sterilized butter mixed with it while it is warm. ”

“ The centers of these can be decorated with crystallized pop-corn.
Cherokee Crisp
Take two cupfuls of light brown sugar, one-fourth cupful of New Orleans molasses, and one-half [130] cupful of water. Melt over the fire until all the sugar is dissolved, add two tablespoonfuls of butter. Sprinkle some salt over a quart of freshly popped corn in a bowl. Flavor the syrup with a teaspoonful of vanilla after it has reached the hard crack stage and pour over the corn. Turn out on a large platter or marble slab and work until a very thin sheet. When cold break into pieces. ”

“ Of the corn grown in the United States, there are three general kinds: field corn, sweet corn, and pop corn. Field corn, as a rule, is grown in large quantities and allowed to mature; then it is fed to animals or ground and cooked for the use of man. This corn consists of three varieties, which are distinguished by the color of the grain, one being white, one yellow, and one red. All of them are made into a variety of preparations, but the white and the yellow are used as food for both man and animals, whereas red field corn is used exclusively for animal food. ”

“ The flint corn kernel may produce several varieties of flint corn ear, or dent corn ear, but there will be no variety in the kernel upon the ear; a dent corn seed may furnish a sweet corn ear, and dent corn ears, but not mixed upon the cob. A pop-corn kernel may produce a sweet corn ear, of sweet corn type, a sweet corn ear of pop-corn type, or a pop-corn ear of the various types, without admixture of kernels upon the ears. ”

“ Preserved green corn, unless it is packed and cooked in its own milk and juices, is of very little value, as it is only in that mode of operation that the preserved articles will retain the peculiar flavor and sweetness which the cereal possesses when fresh gathered from the field and cooked in the usual way. ”

“ As the day passes the excitement mounts and at last, as the cool evening breeze begins to rustle the corn leaves, the feasting begins.
The pits are opened and the steaming, tender ears are passed out to the famished crowd. It is a joyous feast for green corn is a favorite delicacy. Great quantities of food are consumed and a contented silence settles over the gorged, happy people. ”

“ Flint corn in numerous varieties has a large, hard kernel, either white, yellow, orange, red, blue, striped, or blazed. The ears are usually from six to twelve inches long and the plants commonly grow from four to eight feet high. Dent corn is characterized by the indentation at the top of the kernel caused by the drying and shrinking of the starchy matter within. The outer portion of the kernel is corneous as in the pop and flint corns, but the proportion of starch is greater in this group than in either of the other two. ”

“ The sweet corns have a large per cent. of sugar, and are grown for eating [84] in the green condition. The pop corns are small sorts, with a very hard covering. The stalks of corn vary from two to twenty feet in length, and the ears from half an ounce to a pound and a half. The number of rows of grain on the cob is always even, and ranges from four to forty. ”

“ Husk, silk, and put into boiling water as soon as possible after it is brought from the garden. Let it boil twenty minutes, or, if large kernels and cob, thirty.
The small early corn that will not cook in fifteen or twenty minutes is too old, or wholly worthless for cooking. As soon as [Pg 444] the corn is done, put it on the plates with a napkin under, and send it to the table hot. If you prefer it cut from the cob, as soon as it is cooked cut it off, and to three pints of corn put one spoonful of butter, with pepper and salt to suit your taste ”

“ Every fall he does through his field and selects his seed corn from the best of the earliest ripened ears; when these ears are husked one or two husks are left on each ear, and then the husks, with the ears attached, are braided together until there are fifteen or twenty ears in a string. These strings of seed corn are hung up in the sun for a fortnight or so, and then hung from the rafters in a cool, dry loft over the wood-shed; there it remains till seed time comes again, and it never fails to grow. ”

“ ANNIE'S CORN CAKES. One egg, one pint of sour milk, one-half teaspoonful soda, pinch salt, one-half cup flour, corn meal to make not too stiff a batter.
MUSH. W. R. C. To three quarts of boiling water, add salt to taste. Stir in gradually sufficient corn meal to make it quite thick. Boil slowly one hour. Stir often, and beat well; that will make it light and smooth. Eat with cream, milk, and butter, or syrup. To fry when cold, cut in thin slices, and fry in lard and butter, mixed. ”

“ There are two kinds of this corn, one with the cob red, and the other white. The ears are short, and usually contain eight rows, the grains of which, when mature, are of a light colour, and become shrivelled and appear as if they were unripe. It contains an unusually large proportion of the phosphates, and a considerable quantity of sugar and gum, though but little starch. It is extensively cultivated for culinary purposes, and serves as a delicious food, either green or dry. ”

“ Process.—Prepare the corn as for balls and pack them closely into strong square tins slightly oiled with olive oil of best quality; boil to crack, sufficient brown sugar and glucose for quantity required and pour the hot syrup over the pop corns, just enough to make them adhere. When cold cut them up with a sharp knife the size. ”

“ Use 6 or 7 ears of sweet corn, and cut each row down the middle with a sharp knife, and then cut the grains from the ear, and add to them 2 cups of milk, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 saltspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and 2 slightly beaten eggs. Put this into a baking dish and bake like a custard, in a slow oven for half an hour, taking care it does not cook too long nor get too hot lest it curdle. Canned corn may be used when fresh is out of season. ”

“ The spirit of the corn, fleeing before the reapers as they cut down the ripe grain, quits the reaped corn and takes refuge in the barn, where it appears in the last sheaf threshed, either to perish under the blows of the flail or to flee thence to the still unthreshed corn of a neighbouring farm. Thus the last corn to be threshed is called the Mother-Corn or the Old Woman. Sometimes the person who gives the last stroke with the flail is called the Old Woman, and is wrapt in the straw of the last sheaf, or has a bundle of straw fastened on his back. ”

“ Grandpa Keeler having asked the blessing after the approved manner of the morning, there was a general uprising and moving, bowl in hand, towards the cauldron of hulled corn on the stove. This was lively, and there was a pleasurable excitement about skimming the swollen kernels of corn out of the boiling, seething liquid in which they were immersed. Eaten afterwards with milk and sugar and a little salt, the compound became possessed of a truly "comforting" nature. ”

“ The flesh of the ox is eaten by the threshers at supper.
We have seen that sometimes the young corn-spirit, whose task it is to quicken the corn of the coming year, is believed to be born as a Corn-baby on the harvest-field. Similarly in Berry the young corn-spirit is sometimes supposed to be born on the field in calf form; for when a binder has not rope enough to bind all the corn in sheaves, he puts aside the wheat that remains over and imitates the lowing of a cow. ”

“ While the demand for sweet corn is ever on the increase and fortunes are made by those who grow or handle the best—that is, the most agreeably flavored—sorts, the foods made of ripe dried corn are not eaten so generally as they ought to be, at least in the Northern States. ”

“ The Indians in their succotash taught us long ago to associate corn with beans, and they hit upon a dish not surpassed by modern invention. This delicious vegetable is as easily raised as its "hail-fellow well met," the bean. We have only to plant it at the same time in hills from three to four feet apart, and cover the seed two inches deep. I have used the powdery fertilizers and wood-ashes in the hill to great advantage, first mingling these ingredients well with the soil. We make it a point to have sweet-corn for the table from July 1 until the stalks are killed by frost in October. ”

“ It is green corn time and the tender ears of corn are at last ready for use. The corn plants are now as high as a man’s head and although the ears are fully formed, the kernels are tender and milky. They are still white: the brilliant colors will not appear until they begin to harden later on. Each day as the men come home from the fields they bring baskets of corn to their wives. The fresh corn is roasted, baked, boiled or stewed and great quantities are eaten when the families gather around their food bowls for the evening meal. Much of this green corn is also prepared for winter use. ”

“ The Limas must be made to emulate the pole-beans, the spinach, beets, and onions must be kept down to proper limits, the cucumbers and cabbages must be eliminated, and the cauliflowers encouraged. How to effect these changes, however, was not entirely clear to my mind.
Our corn grew remarkably well. Fresh sweet corn is a dish of which I am particularly fond; it is luscious, healthful, and appetizing; it contains much milk—the human being’s natural nourishment; it is excellent boiled or roasted on the cob, stewed in milk, or mixed with beans into succotash ”

“ The present yield, east of the Rocky Mountains, when judiciously cultivated, varies from 20 to 135 bushels to an acre.
The varieties of Indian corn are very numerous, exhibiting every [Pg 269] grade of size, color, and conformation, between the "chubby reed" that grows on the shores of Lake superior—the gigantic stalks of the Ohio valley—the tiny ears, with flat, close, clinging grains, of Canada—the brilliant, rounded little pearl—the bright red grains and white cob of the eight-rowed hæmatite—the swelling ears of the big white and the yellow gourd seed of the South. ”

“ An Indian will travel far, and subsist long on a small bag of it, taking only six or eight ounces of it per day, mixed with water.—Dr. Franklin.
Modern Modes of Popping Corn.—Take a gill, a half pint, or more of Valparaiso or Pop Corn, and put in a frying-pan, slightly buttered, or rubbed with lard. Hold the pan over a fire so as constantly to stir or shake the corn within, and in a few minutes each kernel will pop, or turn inside out, and is ready for immediate use. May be eaten with, or without, a little sugar or salt, added while hot in the pan. ”