Corn, beans and squash were planted together and known as the "three sisters of life." The first corn growers planted beans next to the corn using the corn stalks to support the bean vines without knowing that the beans added nitrogen to the soil helping to fertilize the corn.
The third component in this felicitous arrangement is squash, which provided a leafy groundcover to retain moisture. Eaten together, they provide the 20 amino acids necessary for complete protein.
Sweet corn was first discovered by settlers in 1779 in an Iroquois village along the Susquehanna River in central New York but did not catch on as food until the 1840s.
Ever since the Pilgrims pilfered a cache of Indian corn, Americans have hankered after this New World vegetable. European explorers looked down on it and thought it was "more fit for swine than men."
To this day, fresh sweet corn on the cob is a distinctly American delicacy, although recently, with the introduction of Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants in Europe, they have begun to discover what Americans on both continents have known and enjoyed for thousands of years.
Of course, we all know that the very best way to savor this earthly delight is to pluck the ears from your backyard garden after setting the water to boil, shuck them as fast as you can and dunk them in the pot for two minutes.
Forget salt, forget butter, just eat 'em and weep (with pleasure)! Since this is an unlikely scenario for most of us, the next best thing is to buy your corn at a farmer's market.
At our Laguna market, the friendly face of Fidel Corona greets you at the Corona vegetable stand, where you can get organic white sweet corn that he grows on his own two acres in Perris.
