I don't know why it is, but it seems most people who donate items to their church food bank seem to be really into donating canned corn. My church was no different-we had someone donate cases and cases of canned corn. When you get tired of heating it up for the potluck, what do you do with the rest of it? (Besides give it away to kids for answering questions correctly in Sunday School--only to have it re-donated a week later. Which happened! )
At one point in history, the Spaniards thought themselves superior to Mexicans because the Spaniards ate wheat meal, and the Mexicans ate corn meal-wheat was thought to make a person more intelligent and civilized. The many political aspects of corn can be found in a book called "Que Vivan Tamales!" It is an interesting book, outlining the many political and social ramifications of corn throughout history-it's way more complicated than anyone could ever imagine.
Corn, today, has tons of appications, from food for people to food for animals, even to plastics and making fuel to run your car. It is a very versatile and valuable crop. It is also probably the first crop to be hybridized, by the first person who noticed that a grass had formed a cob with delicious corn on it. There is evidence to indicate that the ancients took out all the inferior forms and encouraged the pollination and growth of the superior forms-thus practicing hybridization.
An excellent illustration of corn's importance in modern times is the movie "King Corn". It is a documentary made by two young men in Iowa about corn and it's economic and social impact today. It is a must-see for those of us who are really into food. It is available on DVD, most likely through your local library.Corn, for all its simplicity to the average consumer, has always been and remains a very complicated crop.
In our modern era, corn, especially the canned kind, is a staple product. Socially, we donate it (apparently a LOT of it) to food banks and churches. It is welcomed, certainly, but then it can become an issue for the church cook to deal with the overage. It doesn't seem like a lot of corn until you start cooking it for others-then it seems you are inundated with it, and that inundation grows at an inverse proportion to the number of people who will want to eat it-again and again and again...
Whole kernel corn is excellent served hot or cold. Most people cook it and serve it with butter or olive oil. In my family, we always add equal amounts of sugar and salt, plus some black pepper, while cooking. Drain this and add some butter, or skip the butter and add the juice of a whole lime plus a teaspoon of chili powder-less, if you're not really into chili powder-toss very well and serve. You can add it to vegetable soup or make a soup based on it, called corn chowder. I put it into my curries for a sweet and crunchy note. You can add it whole to corn bread, or make scalloped corn with white sauce and cheese.
Whole kernel corn served cold with a bit of Italian dressing makes excellent Italian Corn Salad. You can also add salsa and chopped bell peppers and onions to make Mexican Corn Salad. You can also add a half can of corn into a banana smoothie-just make sure you really get it all mixed well, because you don't want to surprise the person drinking it TOO much!
The other type of corn that is usually donated is the dreaded Creamed Corn. I say "dreaded" because few people like this, and the cook has to generally camouflage this product in order to use it up. Creamed corns vary in flavor (sweetness) and thickness of sauce, so it is best to taste it first, and get a read on its texture. This is a product, though, that people usually are of one of two opinions on-either they love it or they hate it. There is little gray area of opinion on this product. The sugar content of it helps you determine how much you want to add to sugary things-since sugar is a liquid when added to other ingredients, and overage of sugar will make a moister product.
One of the best uses I have seen for this product is as the white sauce portion for macaroni and cheese. If you are a serious sweets-person, you will probably love that. Use it as you would any canned soup in tuna noodle casserole, scalloped potatoes, or any casserole. You can also whisk in four eggs per 16 oz and make a lovely baked custard. It can substitute for the fat and liquid in almost any corn muffin recipe-even brownies, if you whir it through the blender until all the corny bits are no longer recognizable. I am sure it would also work with cake mix as the milk and fat portion, though I've not tried that. You can also put it into banana smoothies; once again, make sure all the corny bits are no longer chunky. You can add it to a block of processed cheese along with salsa and make a nice dip for those football game days. Whir it up in the blender and use it instead of the canned milk in your pumpkin pie recipe. Or use it as a base for curries instead of coconut milk-less fat and more flavor! (Of course, it is not a good idea to spring a curry on unsuspecting church people-make sure they're hip to curry before you present it to them, because it is some powerful mojo in scent alone, nevermind the flavors-and too much for a lot of people to handle!) You can add it to slaws, on a two parts mayo (or Miracle Whip) to one part creamed corn that has been through the blender; add your usual dressing ingredients and mix this into the salad. Delicious!
If you have an abundance of corn on the cob, just cook it in a bath of a bit of milk, equal parts salt and sugar, and a bit of pepper. You can also add any aromatics that you might like-rosemary, for example, or onions-and just dress by rubbing a quarter of a fresh lime on it, and sprinkling with chili powder. Of course, in a church setting you'll probably have die-hard butter fans on hand, so you should have butter on hand for them. Poor things, they don't know what they're missing.
Hopefully, these are a few ideas for you to use up your "corny" items-and you'll make it through the "maize". Your prize at the end? A truckload of canned pumpkin? Uhhh, awesome?
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