I occasionally see recipes that call for “green corn” in hundred-year-old cookbooks. Over the years, I’ve always skipped over those recipes because I was not sure what green corn was. Well, now I know. It’s corn on the cob (sweet corn). Here’s what it said in a 1925 home economics textbook:
GREEN CORN
In selecting corn for cooking, choose those ears that are filled with well-developed kernels, from which milky juice flows when pressed with the thumb. Cook as soon as possible after gathering.
To boil green corn remove silk and husk from the corn, place the ears in boiling water. Cook the corn until no juice flows from the kernels when pressed (usually from 12 to 20 minutes). Serve whole on a platter. The platter may be covered with a folded napkin.
To bake green corn select 6 ears. Remove the corn from the cob as follows: Cut through the center of each row of grains, slice off the tops of the kernels, and then scrape the pulp thoroughly from the cob. Put in a baking dish, add:
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoonful butter or substitute
1 teaspoonful salt
pepper
Bake in a hot oven (400° F.) 45 minutes. Serve hot.
School and Home Cooking (1925) by Carlotta C. Greer
It is interesting how terms change!
Agree- It’s fascinating how some cooking and food-related terms change across the years while other don’t.
Who knew, I had never seen that term before good thing here in New England it is exactly how I pick and cook my ears 🙂
Freshly harvested corn on the cob is one of my favorite August foods.
Here in New England the season is quick so we grill it, roast it, steam it and freeze it oh it is so good right off the stalk 🙂
mmm. . . there’s nothing like fresh corn.
yum
I guess that is how they differentiated it from field corn. The corn we had in Texas was so bad, I thought we were eating field corn. I couldn’t wait to get to PA every year for really good PA sweet corn.
The sweet corn in good in PA!
We eat as much as we can. One time we took a bag of it to Texas.
Did it transport okay? I always try to eat corn as soon as possible after harvesting, and am never sure how long it will remain tender and tasty.
We brought on the plane. It was a while ago and I’m sure we ate every bit of it.
Make sense. We’ve often driven, so the transit time would be longer.
Now we know!
In case you wondered. 🙂
I have heard that term before and I’m not sure what I thought it was!
yes…now we know
It’s always good to know food-related trivia. You never know when it will come in handy. 🙂
I’ve always thought it meant “raw” corn, which would sort of square with these instructions.
As you noted, it’s sort of the same. Freshly harvested corn is green corn – as compared to canned corn (or today, frozen corn), which is not considered green corn.
I’ve never heard of the term green corn.
And boiling for 12-20 minutes? I boil freshly picked corn on the cob for about four minutes and eat it without any butter, salt, or pepper – delicious!
I’m with you. Like you, I only boil freshly harvested corn for a few minutes. 12-20 minutes seems way too long – though they seemed to boil all vegetables a long time a hundred years ago.
Before sweet corn was so altered, young field corn was eaten like this.
That makes sense. I hadn’t thought about how corn has changed over the years. Many vegetables are quite different today than what they once were.
I had not heard of “green corn’!
I never heard of green corn until I started reading hundred-year-old cookbooks.
I’ve never heard of ‘green corn’ either. It does make sense, though, with its ‘green’ covering. I do love corn raw (or fresh). No cooking needed. Just bite into the kernels and let the ‘milk’ drizzle down the chin. Oops…
mmm. . . I love your description. I could eat some fresh corn right now.
Hi Sheryl
Thanks for telling us what ‘green corn’ is.
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
It’s nice to hear that you enjoyed this post.
Lets hear it for green corn tamales !!!
I don’t think that I’ve ever tried green corn tamales. I’ll have to give them a try the next time I go to a Mexican restaurant.
Depending on what part of the country your located in if you find them locally.