Husking Corn in the Store

[buvezdevin]

I see it in my city, often, at multiple stores - where there is always a receptacle clearly provided for the husks.  As it's clearly expected and provided for, I don't think it rude.  I will usually peek at the top, but bring home the corn unhusked.  Exceptions where I have husked at the store were when I was preparing a lot of corn that day, not roasting in husk, and glad to leave the voluminous husks in the store receptacle.

[Sharnita]

I agree that having a receptacle indicates that it is OK.

[Outdoor Girl]

I think a lot of stores put out receptacles in self defence because a lot of people were just shucking the corn and leaving the remnants in the display bin and/or all over the floor.  So the original people who started this trend were definitely rude.

People now using the supplied receptacle?  Not rude.

[Zilla]

Yeah I wouldn't call it rude to husk at the store.

[jmarvellous]

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?)

Well, as I said I don't get it either. But I did see a can for it (think giant trash can with a special lid so the opening is an 8-inch circle) in a Katy, Texas, H-E-B.

[kherbert05]

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?)

Fiesta near my house has a trash can for husking your own corn. Their corn still has the silk coming out. The corn at Kroger can have the husk on it but it is trimmed off.

[CrochetFanatic]

I don't think I've ever heard of people doing it as a matter of practice, though occasionally we've seen an ear that had one exposed side from someone checking before deciding they didn't want it.  If the stores allow or even encourage it, then I guess it's not a problem.  I never knew about the trash can thing.  Then again, 8 times out of 10 we also buy our corn from a roadside stand, or from an Amish farmer upstate that some of the family is friendly with.  Very good in both cases!  It really is hard to tell sometimes whether an ear is good or not before you husk it.  I've had some ratty-looking (on the outside) ones turn out wonderful, and some normal-looking ones turn out sparse and wormy. 

[demarco]

I pull down a little piece of the husk to look at the kernels, just to see if they are mushy or dark.  It's rare but it happens. I couldn't be bothered to husk in the store.  I just want to getting in and  out of the store as fast as possible. 

[siamesecat2965]

I've seen it in the grocery stores near me, but i buy mine from a farmstand, and they have a sign that asks you not to shuck the corn.  I guess too many people would do it, adn toss back the ones that were icky.

[Brisvegasgal]

In the grocery stores where I'm from most corn is sold already shucked or partially shucked. I'm wondering if that is an Australian thing...

[sparksals]

I never heard of shucking corn at the store until I moved to Minnesota.  I have always peeled a slight bit back to check the top of the cob.  If it is fully intact, no kernels missing, I know it is good. 


I am paying for the corn, I am going to check to ensure it is satisfactory.  Since the edible part is covered, you bet I will ensure I get my money's worth.


The norm here is to shuck.  There is a garbage by the corn display.  I never shuck.  I take it home with the husk b/c I cook my corn in the husk on the grill.   

[camlan]

Until this thread, I'd never heard of shucking corn in the store.

Then I went to the supermarket yesterday and checked, and yes, there is a bin for the corn husks and it was pretty full.

Why do people do this?

I do pull back the husk at the top of the ear to check the corn. So does pretty much everyone around here--at the supermarket, it's clearly been done to a lot of the ears in the bin of corn for sale. But I just don't understand why you would stand around husking the corn in the store instead of taking it home and doing it there.

Although I usually buy corn at a local farm stand where you can be sure the corn was picked that day, so you know how fresh it is. No one husks it there. They run right home and start the water boiling and then start husking.

[JennJenn68]

I never shuck corn at the store, and it exasperates me to see people that do so because most of the time these people rip off half the husk and then toss the cob back because they have decided they don't want it after all.  That's just dead loss for the grocery store, because nobody is going to buy a half-shucked messy corn of cob even though there's really nothing wrong with it. 

I don't even peel back any of the husk to check it.  When I pick up a cob, somehow I can tell by the weight, feel and smell if it's good or bad.  I've been buying corn for three decades now and in all that time, I've rarely gotten a questionable cob.  The only time, sad to say, that I've gotten a bad batch was when the farmer at the market insisted on selecting everyone's corn for him and didn't allow anyone to touch the corn.  His prices were significantly lower so I got sucked in but it was truly lousy corn and I'll never allow anyone else to do my selecting again.

Coming from a farm background, I've always known the importance of freshness in corn.  At my uncle's house, my aunt used to get the pot of water boiling, and then we'd race out to the field behind the barn and pick corn, husking it as we tore back to the house and got it into the water as quickly as possible.  Oh, my Lord, there's nothing like it!

They didn't always have those "husk receptacles" at the grocery store.  The stores were forced to put them there because people were leaving husks and silk all over the place, and it's a heck of a mess to clean up once many feet have trodden them into the floor.  To my disgust, I still see boors husking and flinging the husks all over the corn display and just dropping them on the floor while standing right next to the can.  Now, that's rude.

[WillyNilly]

Why do people do this?

Well not everyone has the space to do it at home.
My kitchen footprint is 6' x 9'.  Add in counters and range and refrigerator and sink and shelves, etc and its barely room for two people to stand.  I have no outside space whatsoever - no yard, no patio, no terrace.  There's really no a good place to be doing messy work like shucking corn.  The grocery store however is large with plenty of elbow room and has a nice big bin and a staff with nice big brooms to catch any stray silks and other debris (of course I do my best to get every last bit in the bin but its still messy work).

[Joeschmo]

I shuck corn over the sink to catch the silk and throw the husks into the trash can as I go.  I've never seen corn shucking make a mess and if my shucking style caused excessive messiness I wouldn't want to make someone else clean up after me.