Why it works: Corn and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
To Can Green Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the corn
Cut the corn from the cob.
Dissolve tartaric acid in a little hot water.
Cook and can
Boil the corn in plenty of water with the tartaric acid until well cooked.
Put the cooked corn in tin cans and seal immediately.
Finish to serve
When ready to use, drain the water from the corn.
Add baking soda, a little sugar, salt, and butter to taste.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides its sweet, starchy flavor.
- Tartaric acid
- Acidifies the cooking water, which helps the corn hold its color and texture.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes acid and softens the corn when added at the end.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Seal the cans immediately after filling. Hot, freshly filled cans must be sealed at once so the contents stay sterile and airtight as they cool. Delay lets air or microbes in, risking spoilage.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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