Husking Corn in the Store

[Thipu1]

On other sites I've read about people doing this as a standard procedure. There have even been mentions of trash receptacles to hold the husks.  Some people here do strip down a section of husk to make sure the ear is full but we see this as wasteful.

It's easy to determine if an ear of corn is good without stripping it and we would never buy corn that has been even partially stripped.   

Corn starts to lose sweetness almost as soon as it's shucked.  We never take the husks off until the water is ready to take the ears.

What's the practice where you live?   

[Sharnita]

we don't buy ours from the store. we buy ours from a roadside stand in front of the farm where it is grown.  If nobody is working the stand the food is left with a container for the money and list of prices and you pay on the honor system.

[Hmmmmm]

In most of the large supermarkets where I live, the stores put out a large receptacle for the husks.  It's usually around the time that corn becomes abundant and goes on sale. 

I was really suprised the first time I saw this about 10 years ago because I hadn't encountered people shucking corn in a store before.  I still don't understand why people want to shuck in the store.  I've never seen anyone shuck a full ear and then decide they didn't want it. 

Maybe it's a green thing.  The stores send the husks to a compost instead of it going into a home trash can. 

[Outdoor Girl]

A lot of people shuck it at the grocery store.  And if they start to shuck a cob that they don't like, they toss it back in the bin!  It makes such a mess; I feel sorry for the produce workers at the store.

Personally, I don't shuck it; I just feel the cob through the husk.  If I'm in doubt, I might take a peek at one of them by pulling down a bit of husk but then I make sure I'm eating that particular cob that night when I get home.

[kherbert05]

I think people do it here, because


a) they don't know how to check the corn through the husk, because they are used to the husked corn in packages.


b) Corn is bought by weight and they see paying for the husk as being ripped off. I've actually had clerks tell me that I could go back and husk the corn so to pay a lower price. I tell them thanks, but the slight increase in price is worth the added sweetness.

[Sophia]

I do it because I don't know how to tell if the corn is edible or not otherwise.  I've picked up perfectly fine looking and feeling corn and then husked it and thrown it back in disgust.

[turtleIScream]

I think people do it here, because


a) they don't know how to check the corn through the husk, because they are used to the husked corn in packages.


b) Corn is bought by weight and they see paying for the husk as being ripped off. I've actually had clerks tell me that I could go back and husk the corn so to pay a lower price. I tell them thanks, but the slight increase in price is worth the added sweetness.

That's strange to me, because here corn is sold by ear, not weight.

I don't know how regional the differences are, or just family culture. My husband and I grew up in the same state, only 100 miles from each other, but he had never seen corn in the husk until we got married. Although they lived in a more rural area, his mom always bought the prepackaged, stripped down corn; my dad grew corn in our tiny backyard in the city.

I don't think our stores have waste bins for the husks, but I haven't looked for them. I don't shuck the corn until it's done grilling.

[cattlekid]

I really dislike wading through the hoards of huskers to get my couple of ears of corn.  I am on Team "take a peek through the husk". A quick peek and a quick feel through the husk and you should be able to adequately distinguish an acceptable ear. 

[MrsJWine]

I peek inside sometimes, but I don't shuck corn at all until after it's been roasted. It's so much better that way.

[jmarvellous]

We have a husking trash can available but we don't use it because it's in the most used part of the grocery store (the main vegetable aisle) and we can do it at home without being crushed.

[Thipu1]

we don't buy ours from the store. we buy ours from a roadside stand in front of the farm where it is grown.  If nobody is working the stand the food is left with a container for the money and list of prices and you pay on the honor system.

When I was a child we did that too.  Mom would get the pot of water going while Dad and I went out to catch the truck coming in from the field.  Unhappily, we can't do that in Brooklyn but we still get very good corn from the Farmers' Markets we have three days a week in the neighborhood. 

[Zilla]

I do the peek on top and take it whole. I too don't do it at the store.

[miritree]

My husband and I find this so rude. Here corn is sold by the ear, not weight. People leave the hugest mess. You can feel through the husk.

Plus, if you have guinea pigs, they adore corn husks. 

[WillyNilly]

Well as a city dweller I would say:

1. Most people don't know there will be a taste difference because they've only ever eatten pre-husked corn.

2. Many people don't know what signs to look for to know if its good inside

3. Living in an apartment with no outside space, mkes the idea of husking at home, with its mess factor, completely unappealing.

I think if there is a bin there though, its certainly not rude to husk corn at the store.

[Giggity]

I gotta say it's rude. I don't take the stems off my grapes or peel my bananas in the store. (I must add, I've never seen anyone husking corn in a grocery store in Houston. That would baffle me. You don't take your Diet Coke out of the 12-pack in the store ... why your corn?)