The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food
With beans (which are rich in lysine) or milk (which is rich in lysine and tryptophan), to
complement the proteins in corn.
With meat or a food rich in vitamin C, to make the iron in corn more useful.
Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food
Low-fiber diet
Buying This Food
Look for: Cobs that feel cool or are stored in a refrigerated bin. Keeping corn cool helps
retain its vitamin C and slows the natural conversion of the corn’s sugars to starch.
Choose fresh corn with medium-sized kernels that yield slightly when you press them
with your fingertip. Very small kernels are immature; very large ones are older and will taste
starchy rather than sweet. Both yellow and white kernels may be equally tasty, but the husk
of the corn should always be moist and green. A dry yellowish husk means that the corn
is old enough for the chlorophyll pigments in the husk to have faded, letting the carotenes
underneath show through.
Storing This Food
Refrigerate fresh corn. At room temperature, fresh-picked sweet corn will convert nearly half
its sugar to starch within 24 hours and lose half its vitamin C in four days. In the refrigera-
tor, it may keep all its vitamin C for up to a week and may retain its sweet taste for as long
as ten days.
Preparing This Food
Strip off the husks and silk, and brush with a vegetable brush to get rid of clinging silky
threads. Rinse the corn briefly under running water, and plunge into boiling water for four
to six minutes, depending on the size of the corn.
What Happens When You Cook This Food
Heat denatures (breaks apart) the long-chain protein molecules in the liquid inside the corn
kernel, allowing them to form a network of protein molecules that will squeeze out moisture
and turn rubbery if you cook the corn too long. Heat also allows the starch granules inside
the kernel to absorb water so that they swell and eventually rupture, releasing the nutrients
inside. When you cook corn, the trick is to cook it just long enough to rupture its starch
granules while keeping its protein molecules from turning tough and chewy.
Corn