Wizard Recipes

Run your fingers along the husk to feel the kernels; they should be apparent, distinct, full, and without gaps. The silk should be soft; the husk, supple; the ear, heavy. A large ear of corn is a serving.

To store: Do not refrigerate; place in a cool, dark, dry storage place for up to 2 days.

To grill: Pull back the husks without removing them; remove the silk. Replace the husks and soak in cool water for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the grill for high-heat cooking. Place the corn in the husks directly over the heat and grill until lightly browned, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes. Remove the husks before serving.

To boil: Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Remove the husks and silk. Add the corn, the juice of a small lemon, and a generous pinch of sugar (salt toughens corn). Cover and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the corn stand in the hot water, covered, until tender, 7 to 10 minutes.

To steam: Remove the husks and silk. If necessary, break or cut the cobs in half so they fit in a steamer. Set over 2 inches of water combined with a spoonful of sugar in a large pot over high heat. Bring to a boil, cover, and steam until tender, about 4 minutes.

To microwave: Remove the husks and silk. Place the ears in a large glass baking dish or microwavesafe container, snapping in half to fit if necessary. Add a splash of water, cover tightly, and microwave on high until tender, about 4 minutes.

To sauté: Remove the husks and silk, cut off one end so the ear will stand up on your work surface, and slice the kernels from the cob by running a knife along the ear. Melt some unsalted butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the kernels and 1?2 teaspoon sugar; and cook, stirring constantly, until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1?2 teaspoon cider vinegar.

To serve: Season with salt just before eating; also add unsalted butter, chutney, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, or grated nutmeg while warm.

Potatoes

Choose small to medium potatoes with firm, evenly colored skins. Peeling only slightly changes their nutrient value since most of the important vitamins and minerals are clustered about 1?4 inch below the skin. A serving is about 6 ounces.

To store: Potatoes should never be refrigerated (the cold turns off important flavor esters). Store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 week; if stored in a very cool place (around 50°F), they will keep for up to a month.

To prepare: Scrub under cool water to remove any dirt or grime.

To boil: Place in a large pot, cover with water to a depth of 2 inches, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and simmer until tender when pierced with a fork, 12 to 18 minutes, depending on the potatoes’ size.

To steam: Place in a steamer basket over 2 inches of simmering water in a large pot set over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and steam until tender when pierced with a fork, 10 to 20 minutes.

To roast: Cut in half or quarters and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper-and some chopped rosemary or oregano, if desired. Place in a large roasting pan and bake in a preheated 400°F oven until browned, crisp, and tender, tossing occasionally, 40 minutes to 1 hour.

To serve: Salt and pepper while warm; coarse grained sea salt or kosher salt works best against the creamy texture. Also toss with melted unsalted butter or olive oil and/or any chopped herb, poppy seeds, or crème fraîche, if desired

Although considered by many to be a vegetable, corn is actually one of the few grains native to the Western Hemisphere, where it has been cultivated for centuries.

In Europe, the word “corn” is the common term used to describe many cereal grains. However, after coming to the New World, Europeans began to use the word “maize” to refer to corn itself. The word “maize” is derived from the American Indian word “mahiz.” To this day, Europeans call corn “maize,” and Americans call it “corn.”

Corn plants grow to a height of 6 to 10 feet. The tall plants, with their long, drooping leaves, are a common sight throughout the U.S. Midwest, where most of the world’s supply is grown. The plant produces ears of corn that measure 6 to 12 inches, and each ear has numerous long, slender threads called silk.

Corn kernels can be white, orange, red, purple, blue, black, or brown, according to the variety. Most of the corn grown today is a golden yellow.

Corn has a wide range of uses and, although less nutritious than many grains, it is extremely versatile and still a good food choice. Nutritionally speaking for humans, corn provides a good source of fiber, phosphorus, vitamin C, and thiamin.

Numerous hybrid varieties of corn have become available in the past decades. Essentially, the advances in breeding have made corn sweeter by converting its starch to sugar.Corn can be eaten in several ways. It can be served fresh and still on the cob. Canning or freezing can preserve fresh kernels. Dried kernels can be roasted or popped.

Corn can be ground into coarse meal or flour that is made into cornbread, tortillas, pancakes, or waffles. Oil derived from corn is used widely for cooking. Starch derived from corn is often used as a thickening agent in gravies, soups, and other dishes.

Tiny baby corn is popular in Asian dishes and is sold in cans or jars. Corn is also fermented and is the basis for bourbon and whiskey.

The ever-popular cornflake cereal was invented by the Kellogg brothers of cereal fame in 1894. According to legend, they discovered the process of making cornflakes by accident when they passed corn kernels that had been left too long in cooking water through rollers, resulting in flakes.

Although corn is the fundamental food plant of the United States, most of the crop is used for feeding animals or for manufacturing purposes. Corn grown for those purposes is often referred to as “field” corn.

Preparation Tips

The key to serving corn on the cob is to buy the freshest possible. When the ear is plucked from the stalk, the natural sugar in it begins a gradual conversion to starch, which makes the corn less sweet and, therefore, less tasty.

Look for husks around the ear of corn that are green, plump, tightly wrapped, and free of any obvious insect infestation. Before buying corn, peel back the husk slightly to check for plump, pale, and moist-looking kernels. At home, the green husk and silk are usually removed before cooking.

Traditionally, corn on the cob is cooked by placing ears in a pot of boiling water for 4 to 7 minutes or in a vegetable steamer for 4 to 6 minutes. Corn on the cob also can be cooked in a microwave oven. To do so, wrap each husked ear in waxed paper and place on a paper towel. Cook on the highest power setting for 3 to 5 minutes for one ear, 5 to 7 minutes for two ears, and 9 to 12 minutes for four ears.

Corn on the cob can be roasted in its husk on the grill or in the oven. (The silk must first be removed, however, and the husk replaced after this is done.) Before roasting, soak the ear in water for about 5 minutes. Then place the corn on the grill or in the oven. Cooking times vary but range from 10 to 15 minutes on a hot grill or 20 to 30 minutes in an oven set at 350° Fahrenheit.

Avoid corn that is sold in displays exposed to direct sunlight or high temperatures because heat speeds up the process of converting sugar to starch.

Serving Suggestions

Instead of flavoring corn with butter or salt, try other seasonings. Pepper, herbs, or lemon juice complement corn’s flavor without adding unnecessary sodium, fat, or calories. Corn also mixes well with other vegetables. Popped corn makes an excellent snack as long as it is not drenched in butter and salt

Rye grass is tolerant of poor soil and cold climates, climates such as those of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia, where wheat cultivation is difficult. Not surprisingly, rye bread consumption is high in these regions.

Breads made from rye flour tend to be dense and gummy, and they have a strong flavor. Although rye is as high as wheat in protein, rye flour has, at best, a limited ability to form gluten. While it contains sufficient gliadin, rye flour is low in glutenin. In addition, rye flour is very high in pentosan gums (8 percent or more), which interfere with what little gluten could form. Luckily, the pentosans themselves, along with starch, provide a type of cohesive structure in rye dough.

Because of its high pentosan gum content, rye flour absorbs noticeably larger quantities of water than wheat flour does. For this and other reasons, doughs made from rye flour are gummy and sticky, are easily over mixed and over fermented, and have poor gas-retaining properties during the later stages of proofing and during baking.

Rye bread formulas in North America generally include hard wheat flour-clear, high-gluten, or bread fl our-to supply needed gluten and to balance flavor. Standard commercial rye bread formulas generally contain about one-quarter to one-half part rye fl our to one part wheat flour.

Caraway seed, an ancient spice native to the same regions as rye grass, is a common addition to many rye bread formulas.

Rye flour is not significantly higher in oil than wheat flour. However, rye oil oxidizes more easily, producing rancid, off flavors. To ensure that rye fl our is always fresh, purchase it in quantities needed for no more than a three-month period.

As with wheat, a range of commercial rye products is available to the baker. Light or white rye is patent rye fl our, sometimes bleached, from the heart of the rye endosperm. It is the mildest-tasting, most common rye fl our used in North America and is used in rye or sour rye breads.

Unlike the wheat endosperm, rye endosperm is high in dietary fiber, notably soluble dietary fiber from pentosan gums.

Medium rye is straight flour, from the whole endosperm, and dark rye is clear flour, left from the production of light rye. Of light, medium, and dark rye fl ours, dark rye has rye flour , also called pumpernickel , is made from the whole rye kernel. Like whole wheat flour, whole rye fl our contains the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. Pumpernickel is sometimes coarsely ground as meal or cut into flakes.

Corn

Corn, or maize, is typically sold as ground cornmeal, but it is also available as a coarser grit or finer flour. The size of the granule affects the quality of the baked good. Coarsetextured cornmeal, for example, makes slightly gritty bread, one that is denser and more crumbly than corn bread made from fine cornmeal.

Corn contains a good amount of protein but none of it is gluten-forming. For this reason, wheat flour is usually added to baked goods that contain cornmeal. Wheat flour provides structure to the baked good, while cornmeal provides an appealing crumbliness, flavor, and color.

Corn products are typically white or yellow, but blue corn products are also available. Yellow cornmeal, because of its high carotenoid content, provides an attractive golden color to baked products such as corn bread and corn muffins.

Most corn products sold today are not whole grain. That is, they are milled from the corn endosperm, since corn germ is extremely high in oil (30-35 percent) and becomes rancid very quickly. Cornmeal milled from the endosperm is sometimes called degerminated.

Degerminated cornmeal is enriched, to replace vitamins and minerals lost in milling. It has a milder flavor than whole grain cornmeal, but it lasts significantly longer. Traditional Mexican corn flour used in making corn tortillas is called masa harina .

Masa harina is made by soaking dried corn in lime water before grinding it into flour. The soaking removes the bran layer, changes the properties and flavor of the corn, and increases its nutritional value.

The seeds of the maize plant, or Indian corn, especially the variety known as sweet corn, are eaten as a vegetable when they are immature. They grow on a woody cob, and when they are green they are soft and milky; but when they become ripe they are hard and are then ground as grain.

Many varieties of sweet corn are used, but some are better in quality than others. In some varieties, the kernels, or seeds, are yellow, while in others they are white; also, some of them are suitable for use early in the summer, while others come later in the season.

However, in spite of this difference in quality, color, and season, all kinds of corn used as a vegetable are called green corn and may be prepared in exactly the same ways.

The food value of corn, which is very high, even exceeding that of Irish potatoes, is due principally to the carbohydrate it contains. This food substance is in the form of sugar in the green kernels, but as they mature it changes to starch. The food value of the dry grain is therefore higher, and the carbohydrate is in a different form.

When the contents of the kernels is still in the liquid form, the corn is said to be at the milk stage, and is generally considered to be too young for table use. On the other hand, when the liquid in the kernels has become thickened, the corn, which is then at the dough stage, is thought to be too old for use as a vegetable.

To be ideal for culinary purposes, it should be just between the milk and dough stages. Then, if it is in good condition, a most satisfactory vegetable is the result.

The ear on which the corn kernels grow is entirely encased in several layers of husks. These are not removed until just before the corn is to be cooked; so when this vegetable is in the market the husks are allowed to remain on the ears. The condition of the ears can be determined by stripping the husks down a little and examining the kernels.

If they are well filled, they may be considered to be in proper condition; otherwise, they will not be suitable for cooking. No special care need be given to green corn, provided it is not husked. However, when it has been husked, it should be cooked at once. In the husking of corn, all corn silk that is found inside of the husks should be carefully removed, for this is very annoying in the cooked vegetable and its presence indicates carelessness.

CORN ON THE COB

The simplest way in which to prepare green corn is to cook it on the cob. When corn first comes into the market, it is usually very tender and makes a most satisfactory dish when prepared in this way.

To cook corn on the cob, husk the corn, remove the silk from the ears, and place them in a kettle. Pour enough boiling water over them to cover them well, and add 1 teaspoonful of salt for each quart of water. Boil 5 minutes, remove from the water, and serve at once. In eating corn on the cob, most persons dress it with butter, pepper, and salt.

CORN COOKED IN MILK

Often it is not desired to eat corn on the cob. When this is the case, it may be cut off the ear and cooked in various ways. A simple way to prepare it is to cook it with milk and season it with salt, pepper, and butter, as explained in the accompanying recipe.

Select the desired number of ears of green corn, husk them, and remove the silk. Then, cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife, grasping the ear by the larger end and cutting upwards. After cutting off the kernels, scrape the ears so that nothing edible will be wasted, drawing the knife downwards.

Put the corn into a saucepan, add milk until the corn is nearly covered, and season with salt, pepper, and a little butter. Allow the corn to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan and scorching.

No difficulty will be experienced in the preparation of this dish if a double boiler is used, but longer cooking will be required. When the corn is sufficiently cooked, remove from the fire and serve hot.

CORN PULP

Some persons are unable to digest the coarse hulls of green corn, but can eat the corn if the hulls are removed. Such persons need not be deprived of the delights of this vegetable, for it may be prepared in the form of pulp, which will not disagree with them.

To prepare corn pulp, first cut a slit down each row of kernels with a sharp knife ; then, scrape out the contents of the kernels with the dull edge of the knife, drawing the knife downwards. When all the pulp has been removed, season it with salt, pepper, and butter, and heat it thoroughly in a double boiler. Serve hot.

If it is not desirable to serve the corn pulp in this manner, it may be used in various ways, as the following recipes indicate. A good substitute for corn pulp is canned corn, but this must be chopped in order to break up the hulls.

CORN SOUFFLE

No more delightful corn dish can be prepared than corn souffle, for in addition to its being appetizing and nutritious, it is extremely dainty. It may be cooked in a baking dish, but it is more

attractive when baked in individual baking dishes. A point to remember about its preparation is that it should be served immediately upon being taken from the oven, for souffle always shrinks as it cools.

All you need is:

2 c. green corn pulp

1 tsp. salt

Dash of pepper

2 Tb. melted butter

2 Tb. flour

1/4 c. milk

2 eggs

Mix the corn pulp, salt, pepper, and melted butter, stir in the flour, and add the milk. Separate the eggs, beat the yolks, and add them to the mixture. Then beat the whites stiff and fold them in.

Pour into a buttered baking dish or into individual baking dishes, set in a pan of hot water, and bake until brown. Serve at once.

In lieu of many spices, golden treasures and precious gems early Spanish explorers returned to Spain with items of much greater signifi­cance: tomatoes, potatoes and corn. Unfortunately for those who financed the voyagers, the value of this produce was not immediately appreciated.

The Spanish and the Italians hailed the tomato (whose name comes from the Aztec tomatl) as an aphrodisiac-perhaps because of its resemblance to the human heart- when it arrived from the New World during the 16th century.

But even though tomatoes soon become part of Spanish and Italian cuisines, most other Europeans, New World colonists and later, Americans considered tomatoes poi­sonous. (There is some truth to this notion: tomato vines and leaves contain tomatine, an alkaloid that can cause health problems.) Thus for many years and in many societies, only the adventurous ate tomatoes. Tomato historians consider September 26, 1820, a red-letter day marking the popular acceptance of the tomato.

On that day, the then-well-known eccentric Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson ate an entire bushel of tomatoes on the Salem. New Jersey courthouse steps before a crowd of thousands -and lived. Tomatoes soon became one of the most popular of all vegetables.

Similarly, the potato, first delivered to Eu­rope from its native Peru by Francisco Pizarro in die 16th century, did not win wide acceptance in haute cuisine until Antoine-Augustin Pamientier (1737-1813), a French army pharmacist, induced King Louis XVI of France (reign 1775-1793) to try one. He and his courtiers liked them so much they even began wearing potato blossom boutonnieres.

Pamientier was ultimately honored for his starchy contribution to French cuisine by having several potato dishes named for him, such as potage Pamientier (potato soup). Not only did Pamientier lobby for the accep­tance of the potato as a food fit for a king, he also prophesied that the potato would make starvation impossible.

Potatoes ulti­mately did become a staple of many diets. But, sadly, the converse of  Paniientier’s prophecy came true during the Irish Potato Famine of 1846-1848, when a terrible blight destroyed the potato crop. Nearly 1.5 million people died, and an equal number emigrated to the United States. They brought with them a cuisine that incorporated potatoes; thus an appreciation of the common potato was rein­troduced to its native land.

When returning from his second voyage to the New World. Columbus took corn with him. Called mahiz or maize by West Indian natives, com had been a staple of Central American diets for at least 5000 years.

Although Euro­peans did not actively shun corn as they did tomatoes and potatoes, corn never really caught on in most of Europe. (As with another famous New World import, corn’s origin was mistakenly attributed by the British, Dutch, Germans and Russians to Turkey. They called corn “Turkish wheat”: the ‘lurks simply called it “foreign grain.”) Grown for human con­sumption mostly in Italy, Spain and south­western France, corn was and still is usually eaten ground and boiled as polenta.

But de­spite an unenthusiastic European reception, corn’s popularity quickly spread well beyond Europe: Within 50 years of Columbus’s journey, corn was being cultivated in lands as distant from the New World as China, India and sub-Saharan Africa.

Cereals are the most important part in an adult’s diet due to a substance known as starch, a complex carbohydrate with slow absorption that offers the organism the energy needed for best functioning. Cereals also contain fibers, proteins, minerals (calcium, iron, zinc), vitamins (B and E) and antioxidants.

Advantages:

- it is mandatory to consume daily these types of carbohydrates, but in small quantities. With a small amount of starch in our body, we have the needed glucose that helps us maintain satiety till the next meal

- lipids are eliminated when carbohydrates are consumed, so, to lose weight we need carbohydrates in every meal.

- a healthy diet contains bread, rice, pasta and cereals but in a moderate amount, because only the EXCESS of starch can be transformed into lipids.

-cereals contain fibers which accelerate intestinal transit and prevent constipation. Colon cancer risk is also diminished.

- the fibers from cereals have an antioxidant and noninflammatory effect; with vitamin E, these fibers prevent risk for developing arterial diseases. Wheat germs increase vitamin E absorption and decrease cholesterol level

- oil extracted from the wheat grain is called oryzanol and influences cholesterol absorption

- corn flakes assure the daily dose of B vitamin for pregnant women

- carbohydrates increase serotonin level

- cereals are low in fat

- white bread contains cellulose which does not affect cholesterol level and cereal bread contains hemicellulose which decreases cholesterol level

Did you know that…

• Grated potatoes help your eyes regain their brightness? Potatoes also help reduce superficial burns of the skin, by rubbing the damaged skin with potato juice.
• Our organism cannot produce by itself Omega 3 and Omega 6?
• Each vitamin from the B complex has its functions, but cannot prove its efficiency if not administrated with the other vitamins from the B complex?
• Half of the mineral springs of Europe are located in Romania?
• Green leafed vegetables contain Iron and Calcium and mustn’t be boiled for too long, because they lose their nutrients?
• Vitamin C is eliminated from the blood after ~4 hours of being administrated?
• South America offered the world for the first time chocolate, vanilla, corn, tomatoes, potatoes and peanuts?
• If your sense of smell is very deteriorated you cannot tell the difference between potato and apple?
• You should boil the potatoes in their skin in order not to lose the vitamin C from potatoes ?
• Kiwi contains the most nutrients? It has more Vitamin C than an orange and  more Potassium than a banana?
• A few tablets of dark chocolate, consumed daily, have the same effect as aspirin? Dark chocolate reduces the risk of heart  and cerebral attacks?