Sweet Corn

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Possibly one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops, corn has come a long way from a Mexican grass crossed with a wild grain. Today, sweet corn is a summer staple and brings back memories of being five years old with butter running off your chin. Organic is important when it comes to eating sweet corn, since over 60 percent of all corn (agricultural as well as sweet) is genetically modified and/or drenched in chemicals to kill pests and weeds, as corn is a particularly vulnerable crop.

As soon as sweet corn is picked, it starts turning its sugars into starch, so you’ll want to cook the corn within a day or two of picking. Look at the cut ends; they should still be juicy-looking (as they get older, the ends look fibrous and turn brown). And feel the ear for fullness (it’s bad manners to strip off the husks to inspect every ear). Inspect the tops for holes which may indicate earworms inside. Earworms indicate a farmer is not rotating their crops, not whether they’re organic or conventional. If earworms are found after purchasing, you could cut off the portion of the corn where the earworm was exploring (usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the ear) and the remaining is still safe to eat.

Fun fact: “Baby” corn, popular in Chinese dishes, is simply corn that was picked very young, not a separate kind of corn.

Nutrition: Sweet corn is high in dietary fiber, vitamins C, B3 and B5 and manganese. Studies also show sweet corn—especially colored corn like blue or purple—have high amounts of antioxidants, though researchers question how well the body uses them from corn.