Quick Question about Cooking Corn... Help!!!!

I am making a summery corn salad tomorrow with fresh corn (cut off of the cobb), diced roasted peppers, spring(green) onions, diced radishes, cilantro, parsley ect. and tossed in a home made dressing consisting of lime juice, olice oil, and a bit of honey and....

... I was wondering if I have to boil the corn or whether you can make a corn based salad with just raw kernals?

I'm not much of a cook and my experience with corn is minimal...

The corn should definitely be cooked otherwise the kernels can be somewhat tough.

No need to boil the heck out of it you can just steam it until they turn dark yellow and are tender.

 

I had a really good black bean salad with uncooked corn the other night.  So no, you don't have to cook it if you don't want to :).

Edit:  Maybe it's different because yours is a corn-based salad, I don't know.

You do not have to cook it, but if you steam it for 5 minutes, sometimes that brings out the sweetness more and makes it softer like belladonna said.  Enjoy! :)

Thanks girls!

I'd def cook it a little... :)

I have to disagree.  I use raw sweet corn in salads, but only if it's very fresh, just picked. Most supermarket corn has been sitting there for a while.  It has a sweet, slight crunch when raw, but that is lost if the corn isn't very fresh.  Modern varieties of sweet corn aren't tough.

The biggest mistake I see people make is over boiling corn.  My favorite way of cooking it is to drop the ears into a large pot of rapidly boiling, salted water, for no more than 4 minutes. 

You really don't need to cook the corn.  The only reason to cook corn on the cob is to make it hot.  Most people really do over cook it.  I make a salad similar to yours with orzo and do not cook the corn.

If you have any concerns, roast the corn in the oven, in the husks for about 15 or 20 minutes, at about 350. Have never had better tasting corn in my life.

Husk the ears while they are hot, and the silk comes right off the top. All the nutritional value and flavor stays in the kernal. Plus it easier to slice the kernals off the cob.

mmm...corn.  that's all i can say at this point.

you can also microwave the corn too, which sounds weird...but works surprisingly well.  just take off most of the husk beforehand.

and back to my original statement...mmm...corn.

*drools*

YUMMY! YUMMY!

Don't know if it will help with your salad, but my favorite way to have corn is on the grill....    You soak it in water, with husks on, for hour or at least 15 min, then place it on the grill for 45 min, with husks on.  While soaking you can add some sugar to water, and sometimes makes it better. 

I always steam my corn i find when its boiled it changes the sugar content in the corn you can see it when its boiled and you take it out and its dark yellow.

This is only my preference i know that everyone cooks as they enjoy the food so I enjoy it this way. Its especially good when i go pick it out of the garden and then cook it right away the flavor is awsome

Have a great day everyone

If you're anywhere near jersey, we are overflowing with jersey sweet corn right now... local farmer's markets have tons of fresh corn that you can take home :) I love it right off the cob raw personally. I used to go out to cornfields and pick a few to eat, along with some okra raw.

I like to grill mine - fresh from the market of course ;-)  I take of most of the layers of husk, leaving 1-2 layers.  open the top a bit and run it under the faucet to get some water inside (same effect as soaking it I suppose, but faster).  You can also do tin foil if the husks are already off.