I love corn season, it usually means more time with friends, BBQ's and warm summer nights… Hey, when you shuck your corn to eat at the next BBQ, save the corn silk!
You can make a tea with the fresh corn silk or mince it into small pieces and add it fresh to your salad. Fresh corn silk is a food that contains easy to assimilate nutrients. If you try to eat it in long strings it will just be irritating, use it as a topping for just about any salad type dish, just make sure you cut it into tiny pieces.
If you go through as much corn as we do, there is no way to eat or drink all the silk, so you can dry it and save it for later use. Pull the silk from the cob and separate if from the husk. Make sure to also save the silk that is at the top of the husk on the outside of the corn. Run your finger through the silk a little to loosen it from being in one big clump. Place the corn silk on a flat basket and set it out on the counter to dry. Depending on the weather this will take several days. Once all the water is gone from the silk and it feels slightly crispy you can store it in a jar or baggie. Corn silk lasts this way for about one year.
Dried corn silk makes a very nice tasting tea. Corn silk is traditionally used as an anti-inflammatory tea for the urinary tract. Two cups of tea a day for several weeks helps with cystitis, urethritis and prostatitis. You don't have to be inflamed to enjoy a cup of tea though. It is a nutritive herb containing many beneficial minerals and it is demulcent. Demulcent herbs sooth tissue lining in the body. It is a safe herbal tea for people of all ages, children and elderly. It is tonic to the prostate and urinary tract.
Corn silk soothes and relaxes the lining of the urinary tract and bladder, relieving irritation and improving urine flow and elimination. This is a great remedy for people with incontinence and any type of urinary discomfort. If you are prone to urinary tract infections, corn silk is the herb for you. If you feel like you are becoming susceptible to a urinary tract infection, drink three cups of corn silk tea a day for several days.
Corn silk has a mildly sweet flavor and makes a good tasting, nutritive and cooling summer tea for anybody. So next time you make corn on the cob make some corn silk tea to drink after dinner. --Kami
1 bunch chopped basil leaves
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Dash of salt
Cut the stems from the basil leaves and discard the stems. Put basil and olive in the blender and blend until smooth. Add nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese a little at a time and mix until everything is blended together. Add extra olive oil for a smoother pesto. Toss gently with cooked pasta and top with extra Parmesan cheese.
1/2 bunch of basil leaves
Sprig of chopped rosemary
Handful of chopped parsley
1 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons water
1 garlic clove
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Dash of black pepper
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
(put plain shelled sunflower seeds in a cast iron skillet and dry roast for five minutes)
Blend all ingredients except for the herbs together in the blender until smooth. Add basil leaves and other herbs a few at a time until you get the consistency of salad dressing that you like. This is my favorite salad dressing; I eat it on salads and baked chicken.
1 cup water
1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil leaf
Put herbs and water in a pot with the lid on. Bring to a boil and then immediately turn off the heat. Let the basil steep for fifteen minutes and then strain it out.
Drink one to two cups a day.