UPLOADED/REDIRECTED: Taste of the Weekend: Summer Sweet Corn

Spicy Mexican street corn is one of the best ways to enjoy your summer corn!

Growing up in Lancaster County, sweet corn season was a big deal. Corn is already a major player in the rural area, for both production and agrotourism – I’ve never met a more daunting corn maze than the one at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm in Ronks -- but sweet corn season is the peak of it all. Local farm stands held countdowns, one even breaking out a larger-than-life wooden corn cutout to display the number of days until corn kickoff.

This kernel craze isn’t limited to Lancaster County. Across Pennsylvania, people wait in anticipation for a taste of sweet corn. It's all in the flavor: unlike store-bought ears, farm-fresh corn pops with a sweet, buttery taste that only intensifies with a quick boil and douses of butter and salt.

Get yourself a taste of the sweetness this weekend by grabbing a few ears at your area farm (we’ve got a few recipes for you to try!) or snagging a corn-y dish from a local eatery.

Shenot Farm

For seven generations, Shenot Farm has been harvesting some of the area’s best sweet corn. White and bi-color corn are on their list, along with tomatoes and peaches and everything good and growable! Stop by their Wexford market to pick up some corn before diving into the “party for the palate” which is a zesty, creamy, and spice dusted ear of street corn. Here’s a recipe we love for delicious elote, aka Mexican-style street corn.

Driftwood Oven

Open again after months of renovations, slice shop Driftwood Oven has brought back one of their summer favorites: corn and peach pizza. Fresh peaches and corn top a layer of buttercup and ricotta cheese, with a spicy, smokey touch of Morita chili oil and zip of cilantro to finish it off. It’s sweet with fruit and the pop of corn, deliciously creamy, hot with spice, and rounded out by the subtle tang of their signature sourdough crust. Paired with a beer, this pie is the perfect summer meal.

Soergel’s Orchards

Though known best for their apples and apple cider, this family-owned farm in Wexford grows a wide range of produce, including sweet corn. Snag a few ears from their on-site market to make this summer corn chowder, the type of soup you want to make a double batch of, or corn flan, a savory version of the popular Puerto Rican dessert from chef Jamilka Borges.

Linea Verde Green Market

On Fridays, Bloomfield’s beloved green market, featuring fresh produce from local farmers and delicious treats from neighborhood makers, serves up tacos from the front walk. “Fiesta, fiesta,” as it’s lovingly called on the market’s social media pages, regularly features tacos, quesadillas, sope, and elote (street corn). Get a taste for their freshly-made elote, charred corn slathered in a creamy, spicy, and cheese-spiked sauce.

Casa Brasil

Sweet corn gets even sweeter at Casa Brasil, used in their curau -- also called mingau de milho or canjika -- traditional Brazilian corn pudding. Taking advantage of the summer harvest, the Highland Park restaurant turns kernels into a creamy, rich dessert, with a dusting of cinnamon to add a final, warming touch.

Go for the pudding, but make a meal out of it! We can’t recommend their crispy, popping-with-spice, bone-in fried chicken and traditional moqueca, Brazilian stew, enough.