Knee-High By The Fourth of July

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

On the east coast, every year about this time we start to see fresh corn at the local farmstand. Corn is one of those foods that really shows how much better local and in season produce can be. Buy it too early in the year, and the kernels are too starchy and not sweet enough. Wait too long and it’ll be past its peak, seedy and tough. At those times, I think it’s better to buy frozen or canned corn than to get it in the produce aisle.

But there is a magical period of time, smack in the middle of the summer, when fresh corn is at its peak of flavor. You’ll see it in greater abundance at the grocery store. Some stores have added trash barrels where you can shuck your fresh corn right on the spot before purchasing it – a great convenience. No more guessing if you’ve bought a bad, worm-eaten ear. If you live in a more rural area, you may pass by roadside stands selling fresh ears, and this is the best way to get it fresh and right from the source.

This year promises to be a good corn on the cob year. That old saying “Knee High by the Fourth of July” was put to rest with the corn crop near waist high by the fourth due to record heat in the late spring and early summer. Whenever I see corn growing in a field, I can’t help but remember fun family vacations growing up.

On our family trips down to the beach each year (on the never ending back road route my parents would take), there was always a certain point when we would get to rural Delaware, and my mom would make that same comment, “Knee High by the Fourth of July” as we passed row after row of corn stalks. That phrase always indicated we were about a half hour from our beach destination (probably my mom’s slick way of preventing any more are-we-there-yets?) If we were going at the right time in the season, we would stop for a dozen ears to go along with our preferred shoreside meal of a bushel of crabs. The place we stopped wasn’t manned; you just paid for your farm fresh produce in a little honor jar.

The best way to enjoy kid-friendly corn on the cob is simply cooked and passed at the table with butter and salt. As we used to say when we were kids, “eat it like a typewriter” (Of course the typewriter is now obsolete so today’s kids might never know what that means). There are many different ways to cook whole corn on the cob - steam it, boil it, roast or grill it – choose your preference. If you didn’t shuck it at the store, send your kids out back to do the dirty work. If you haven’t ever had grilled corn, I definitely recommend trying it. It’s a wonderful complement to a summer meal.

Before grilling the corn, you can peel back the husks and remove the silks, then seal the corn back up with the husks, for a steamed effect. Or totally shuck the corn and wrap in foil to roast. Either way, grill the corn for about 20 minutes until tender. You can also place the shucked corn directly on the grill for ten to twelve minutes for a charred, smoky effect.

When I get tired of plain old grilled corn on the cob, I like to make Elote, or Mexican corn on the cob. This simple snack sold by street vendors in Mexico is corn spread with mayonnaise, spice and Cotija cheese. It’s delicious and your kids will love it!

Serves/Makes: 4

• 4 ears corn, husks and silk removed
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup grated cotija cheese (or Parmesan cheese)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 wedges lime (optional)