Summer's First Butter and Sugar Sweet Corn

"No one can believe that God is not good when the August gardens are in their heyday." ~ Gladys Taber, The Book of Stillmeadow

We bought our first sweet corn of the year on Friday, when we visited my mother-in-law. We got it from Himmel's of Carrolltown. Every day, they send corn trucks to Altoona, Johnstown, and Ebensburg. We stopped in Altoona on our way to Martinsburg to buy a baker's dozen. Today was the first that we got to eat some!

This is butter and sugar sweet corn. They will soon be moving into silver queen. I typically leave the corn in its husks and put it in bags in the fridge until we want to eat it. On this day, we got out three ears to enjoy with a simple summer Sunday dinner of steaks on the grill, sweet corn, and sliced red tomatoes.

I always like to photograph the corn because to me, sweet corn is one of the staples of summer living in central PA. When I was growing up, we often had meals that centered around this treat. There might be sandwiches and a few other things on the table, but in the middle was the featured item: a heaping tray of local SWEET CORN!!!

There were eight of us in the house at home, at first. But for most of my growing up, it was six, as Barb had long moved out and Marilyn had gotten married and done the same. I sat at the end of the kitchen table, to my father's left hand, close enough to enjoy the juicy red tomatoes from his garden (the best tomato in the world, I might add, is the "Lee-mater") that he carefully sliced and salted, and any other treats he sent my way.

We had rules back then about the kitchen table that all involved the word NO. First off, there was no wearing of HATS at the table. There was no READING at the table. There was no SINGING at the table. I laugh to think of this; were we so happy that they had to make RULES about no singing? Like we were the freaking Von Trapps, or something. Please, ENOUGH SINGING, ALREADY!

So now I have my own kitchen table, a table that I believe once belonged to Grammy Carvell herself. And on this table, on this day, we served steaks on the grill and sweet corn, and tomatoes. So simple, so wonderful.

My husband, feeling like spoiling himself, added dessert to that list: a grilled sticky, one of those awesome cinnamon rolls I made topped with butter and heated up on the grill. He said it might have been one of the best things he had ever eaten in his life!

Anyway, back to the sweet corn. It was awesome. It was delectable. It was tender and juicy and sweet. I put plenty of Land O Lakes butter spread and salt on mine, and cut it off the cob, and ate every morsel with delight. 

Did I feel like singing? Well, yes, I'll admit that I did! I'll sing the praises of this sweet corn that is the best in the whole wide world. Yes, I think that I'm in love! Here's a song for that: Neil Diamond, with Summer Love, from the 1980 film The Jazz Singer.