24 Ears of Corn, 1 Grandson, and a Happy Grandma

I always love the fall season. The smells of burning wood in the fire pit. The sounds coming from the high school marching band. The tastes of apples and sweet corn always bring back lots of childhood memories.

This past week I bought (what I think was the last available in town) two dozen ears of sweet corn. It was as though I didn’t want an ear to go to waste. We love cooking and freezing the kernels and eating corn throughout the winter. I’m confident there is store-bought canned corn, which may taste just as good, but there’s something about doing it yourself that makes it taste just a tad better.

After making the very late season corn purchase, I enlisted the help of our grandson to assist in the preparations of creating our corn on the cob, sans cob. The only method I had ever used was the old tried and true boiling the corn in a big metal pot. Our grandson thought that option was too much work, and he was determined to find an easier and quicker method. We both agreed the cleanup is never easy, so I asked him to Google options of blanching the corn, and he found several.

Within one short minute, he had the perfect method he liked and suggested we should try. Either he is a very fast reader, or he was anxious to get the ball rolling, so to speak. I’ve never been a “doubting Thomas” and have always encouraged the grandkids to try new things, but this was, after all, potentially the last of the sweet corn for an entire year! How could I risk wasting two dozen ears of the best looking sweet corn left in the city? But being the loving Grandma that I am, I said nothing about my fears and immediately agreed with his decision. I put on my adventuresome hat and followed his lead.

Our grandson quickly ran around our kitchen finding the Saran Wrap, can of Pam, cutting boards and knives. We were off to the races, and it became a challenge to see who could prepare the corn the fastest and cook it in the microwave. We quickly decided that racing in our preparations wasn’t such a good idea. My first clue was when I slipped on the Pam, which had accidentally been sprayed on the kitchen floor. My sous chef—or maybe by then he was the head chef—divided the duties between the two of us, and we got back on track.

Cutting the corn off the cob was a new task for our grandson. He’s used knives before, but he had never assumed this particular technique. He soon mastered the new knifing method with ease. Grandma was especially pleased he finished with all his ten fingers intact. He is smart, but he is still a teenager! We completed our project and placed the kernels in freezer bags. Our grandson proudly labeled his bags, “MY CORN!”

I smile as I recall our grandson’s joy in cooking, learning a new skill, creating a side dish for later use (hopefully, he shares the corn with his family) and, with some luck, happy memories. My memory of theMY CORN! experience will stay with me forever.