Grilling corn on the cob is a delicious way to enjoy the fresh vegetables of summer. You can grill corn either in its own husks or in aluminum foil. Either method provides a great way to enjoy fresh picked corn. You can use any type of corn for grilling. Some prefer the sweetness of white corn while others like the texture and flavor of yellow. You can get a good blend of the two with bi-color.
The first step with either method is getting the right ear of corn for grilling. You want to select an ear that still has a healthy amount of husk around the ear. Peel some of the husk layers to make sure the kernels are full and moist. If they are dry or miniscule, skip that ear and go on to the next. During the grilling process, the ear of corn may lose a bit of moisture. If you start out with a dry ear, your final product may not be as tasty as it should be.
Let’s look at grilling the corn in its own husk first.
Remove some of the husks from the ear before you start anything. You want to keep two to three layers around the entire ear in order to protect it from burning. Soak the cobs in a pot of water for at least 15 to 20 minutes. This will hydrate the husks and help keep them from burning too fast. It will also provide steam to help cook the corn kernels. As you soak the ears of corn, heat the grill up. You need to heat it up to medium range, which most recognize as around 350˚F.
Remove the corn ears from the water and shake them to get rid of excess water. Peel the husks back, but don’t remove them. Get rid of the corn silks. The next step is preparing the corn for cooking. Brush a layer of butter or olive oil all over the corn. This is the point where you can add additional flavors to the corn. Some people like to add flavors from garlic powder to cayenne pepper. Pull the husks back up around the corn. You can tie the husks with a piece of husk or cooking twine.
There are two stages to cooking the corn. The first is placing the corn on the grill directly above the heat source. Turn the corn every couple of minutes to make sure the husks do not char. This initial cooking stage heats up the moisture in the husks in order to get the cooking process off to a good start. Once you turn them a couple of times, move the corn off the direct heat or up to a higher level in the grill. This will keep the corn cooking without burning it. Cook like this for 15 minutes or so. Use tongs or an oven mitt to remove the corn from the grill. Otherwise, you may burn yourself. Remove the husks and serve with butter.
Grilling corn in aluminum foil is very much the same, using the foil in place of the husks.
With aluminum foil, you remove all the husks and silks before you cook them. Some people prefer to soak their corn before they grill it, while others do not. The soaking provides extra moisture for the cooking process. No matter if you decide to soak, the next step is preparing the corn for grilling. Shake any excess moisture from the corn. Brush it in olive oil or butter and add seasonings as desired.
Wrap the corn in a square of aluminum. Put over the grill. You can use the same two-stage method of cooking described in the cornhusk method above. You can tell when the corn is ready when you pop a kernel and juices shoot out. Remove the corn with a pair of tongs or oven mitts. Remove the aluminum foil and serve with butter.
