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To Can Green Corn

Green corn preserved in airtight cans with tartaric acid, baking soda, cream, butter, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Can Green Corn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the corn

  1. Cut the corn from the cob.

  2. Put the corn into sufficient water to cook.

Add acid and can

  1. Dissolve 1 ounce of tartaric acid in boiling water and add to every 6 quarts of corn while cooking.

  2. Seal the corn in airtight cans.

Cook and serve

  1. When ready to eat, pour off the water and add fresh water and a pinch of baking soda.

  2. Let stand for 10 minutes before cooking.

  3. When nearly done, add cream or milk, butter, pepper, and salt.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 supplies its sweet flavour and tender texture.
Tartaric acid
Adds acidity that helps the corn keep its colour and flavour during canning.
Baking soda
Raises the pH of the cooking water, which softens the corn and makes it more tender.
Cream or milk
Adds fat and richness, giving the corn a smoother, creamier mouthfeel.
Butter
Contributes fat for richness and a rounded, savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Adding baking soda when reheating. Baking soda raises the pH of the water, which softens the corn quickly. Only a pinch is needed, because too much leaves the corn soapy-tasting and mushy.

“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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