How to Choose an Ear of Corn (Without Peeking!)

Inspired by conversations on the Food52 Hotline, we're sharing tips and tricks that make navigating all of our kitchens easier and more fun.

Today: You can get fresh, bright, perfect corn -- while practicing proper corn-buying etiquette, too.

We can't stop talking about corn, cooking corn, wishing for little corn-on-the-cob-shaped cob-holders to hold our corn cobs in place while we moan about how much we love, we adore, we cherish, corn.

But before all that, before the salad-ing and the cream-ing, the talking and the moaning and the corn-on-the-cob-ing, the corn needs to be bought. The corn needs to be chosen.

We're here to help.

Because of course, the easiest way to choose an ear of corn is to take a peek: to peel down a teensy bit of the husk and check for bright, plump kernels. But doing this before buying the corn is not proper corn-buying etiquette. You will get dirty stares at the market -- and that corn that looked so gorgeous and milky and bright when you peeled it will get sad and shriveled and starchy quicker.

Here's how to choose corn without taking that peek.

Look for teensy brown holes in the husk, especially towards the top. Those are wormholes, and, naturally, worms are best avoided.

Feel the kernels through the husk. You want to make sure that they're plump and plentiful; if you can feel holes where kernels should be, then choose another.

Look for tassels (those things sticking up out of the top) that are brown and sticky to the touch. If they're dry or black, then it's an old ear of corn.

Check out the color of the husk. If it's a bright green and tightly wrapped against the cob, then the corn is fresh. (In some cases, it will even feel slightly damp.)

How do you choose your corn? Let us know in the comments!