Summer in winter

Here’s a trick for you. The only thing is, you’ll have to remember it until July. Maybe August.

Tonight we had fresh, cut-off-the-cob Silver Queen corn. It’s really the only proper corn in the South and if you doubt that you are just wrong. Silver Queen has a short life span. It comes to the market sometime in July and it’s usually gone by the end of August. Going to Dillard, Ga., for a BBQ contest in early August is an excuse for a trip to Osage Farms to get the best Silver Queen corn in the world. And I mean that. In the world.

So here’s the trick. Buy more than you can possibly eat in one sitting. Cut it off the cob. Put it in heavy duty freezer bags. And pop it into the freezer. Don’t cook it beforehand. Don’t add anything to it. It is already perfect. It will taste in January like it tasted in August. Just throw it in a skillet with some butter, salt and pepper.

It is rainy and cold in Middle Tennessee tonight. But we had a taste of sweet summer. We had Silver Queen corn. As so often happens these days, I think of Terrell. He was alive and in Dillard when I bought that corn. If you have come to this blog of late and don’t know Terrell, just type his first name into the “search this site.” Terrell is everywhere here and ever present to me. I hope he’s not reading this right now, but that old-fashioned corn scraper he gave me? I don’t use it. I’m scared to death it will take my knuckles right off.