Corn Soup-perfect for late summer or early fall
Corn on the cob can be a simple culinary highlight during the season, at least for me. This year we grew dwarf blue corn in our garden with reasonable success, considering it was our first time. Unfortunately, those tasty little ears of corn have long been eaten…but not forgotten. As the warm season winds down local late summer corn can usually be found in the market or a farm stand. When the weather begins to get chilly us humans tend to gravitate towards warmer, hearty foods, and corn soup fits bill. Corn is a nutritious, satisfying, and relatively inexpensive product that yields itself to many culinary applications.
It is believed that corn was first cultivated thousands if not tens of thousands years ago by the indigenous people of Central America, present day Mexico, and it spread throughout the Americas from there. The Spaniards brought back corn to Europe. Corn is also known as maize named by the Spanish. The word maize was adapted from the Taino (indigenous people of the Caribbean) word mahiz.
Maize was a staple for many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. They preserved corn by drying the kernels which might be ground into flour, left whole then reconstituted when needed, or possibly used for popcorn. Once I had tea made of corn silk, which I was told was a Native American recipe…it was very delicious by the way. Today corn can be found preserved canned, frozen, popcorn (still) and in flour form. Corn can be found in most processed foods and even in our gasoline, but when fresh summer, or late summer corn is around it is meant to be appreciated.
PAIRS PERFECTLY WITH A CHILLED GLASS OF KRIS PINOT GRIGIO.