Corn Shuckin' Time

Mom always plants a few cornrows in the garden for summer dinners. Ain't nothin' better than fresh corn off the stalk slathered in butter with a light dusting of salt.

For sweet corn to eat in the middle of the long winter, we’d get 5-6 bushels full. Dad would haul the gunny sacks from the truck to the front yard. Each full to the brim with corn. Everyone got to shuckin' that corn which takes quite awhile. The pigs are gonna love all those husks. Next, we carry the cobs into the house and pile them up next to the stove. When all shucked, there's a small yellow mountain next to the stove.

Mom had her two biggest pots a boilin' on the stove while we were shuckin'. Only takes two minutes in that boiling water to scald the cobs, then quick as a flash, plop them into the ice water bath. They sit there until they're good and cooled off. By the end of the process the mountain of corn has moved to the kitchen table.

Now comes the cuttin' off the corn from the cob. This is my favorite part cause of the massive pile of corn chunks that wind up at the top of the pile. I look for the biggest, juiciest pieces and pop those in my mouth. Delicious! Dad must've thought we weren't getting the job done fast enough with our cutting boards and half-way sharp knives. We'd hold the cob with one hand while cutting off the corn with a semi-dull knife in the other. Instead, he rigged up some blocks of wood with super long nails poking through them. “All you gotta do is jam it on the nail, like so, and then both hands are free.” "Um, okay dad?!?" I’d miss the mark so many times. Geez. Mom didn't like his invention much either. When dad left, we went back to her own system: cutting board and knife.

After the corn pieces get cut, I turn the knife over to the dull side and scrape out what's left. Makes for a big pool of creamed corn on the bottom. Seemed like we’d never get through all that corn. At the end of the day we’d have a heck of a lot of bags stacked up in the chest freezer and a glorious amount of buttery corn filling our bellies.