Corn Salsa-Two Styles and The Grape Report. Plus Concert Sunset.
EMWTTSFM With Corn Salsa
Food Review by Gary Gardiner
I’ve craved salsa all summer, but I never wanted to go through the process. All that measuring and chopping, then forgetting to add some spice that’s sat in the back of the cabinet for at least a year and needs replacing. But I’ve already mixed everything, so why not take the risk? What’s the harm? Flavor. Bad flavor. No flavor.
I took no risks this week and followed recipes from an old friend and the farmers at High Point Produce. High Point offers a small basket with all the necessary vegetables, spices, and flavorings for a simple salsa, all together so I didn't have to search the spice cabinet. However, I can’t settle for easy. No, I wanted more, including black beans and corn. The black beans came from the cabinet.
Corn came from Rhoad’s Farm, where its corn had a higher sugar content than the grapes last week and this week. If you were at the market last week and looked my way after measuring the corn’s sugar content, you saw me eating an ear of Rhoad’s corn raw, uncooked. As fresh as any ear could be, picked the day before, then tossed into the cooler for the night.
Several years ago, I made a photograph for Bloomberg News of high school students harvesting market corn at sunrise near Bellefontaine. The rolling farmland provided great shots, including one of the tractor driver eating an ear of corn while the other workers threw corn into his trailing wagon.
Several hours after I sent the photo to Bloomberg's New York office, I got a call from Jon, the photo editor and a good friend of mine. He apologized for having to ask if I had set up the photo of the driver eating corn. An editor had questioned Jon, who replied, “I’ll ask.” He knew the answer.
”No! Now ask that editor if they’ve ever been off the island? If they’ve ever been to a farm in New Jersey?”
I'm unsure whether Jon passed along my comment, but it seems the editor’s perspective on the farming world was limited to the grocery store, their favorite restaurant, and food reviewers.
My second option for what to do with my sweet corn came from Krista Steele, a therapist whose Into the Morning newsletter explores “To what are we devoting our attention, our energy, our time?”
If this corn salsa, the one on the left in the photo at the top, is any indication of her ability to find peace in the sometimes tumultuous search for quiet, I’m a believer. This isn’t your ordinary salsa. I used my well-seasoned cast iron skillet to blacken the Rhoad’s corn, following Krista‘s instruction to leave it alone—no stirring. As is often a bad habit of mine, I didn’t fully follow the instructions. Krista didn’t say not to, or that I had to cook the corn, so I ended up charring it raw, without properly cooking it.
Made with brined feta cheese and chipotle mayonnaise, along with all the other required ingredients, except for tomatoes and bell peppers. None are needed.
Charred Corn Salsa from Krista Steel of Into the Morning.
The Green Grape Report
Food Review by Gary Gardiner
Kroger - Maxtown
Brand - Green grapes from California.
Price - $7.99 for a three-pound clamshell package
Appearance - Bright color with a few flaws.
Size - Largest of the season, with a grape weighing an average of 11.1 grams. The average length measured from ten grapes is 34mm, with an average diameter of 24mm.
Crispiness - Crisp with a thin skin
Taste - Much sweeter. Measured at 18% sugar.
PLU Code - NA
The Review
Grapes are no longer cheap. Anywhere. The pieces per pound hover just below $3 a pound, with Marc’s sometimes having a slightly lower price, but not so low it’s worth the gas money to save pennies for two pounds.
Kroger was recently $3.29 a pound on Schrock Road. Both Westerville Kroger stores have grapes at $2.77 a pound in an approximately three-pound bag.
The clamshell package I bought was three pounds for $6.99, 11 cents a pound less than the packaged grapes. The package had two large stems of approximately the same size and only two grapes rattling around at the bottom.
This is not as good a value as last week’s two two-pound clamshell packages for $6.98. That was unusual.
I don’t think we’ll ever see grapes marked down to $.99 just as I’m sure the produce market near Palatka, where I fell in love with green grapes, was destroyed by a hurricane many years ago, removing the possibility of ever experiencing those days of my youth again.
As an aside, bagged cherries were $3.99 a pound while three pounds in a clamshell package were $7.99, making each pound $2.66.
The Westerville News is a reader-supported publication by Gary Gardiner, a lifelong journalist who believes hyper-local reporting is the future of news. This publication focuses exclusively on Westerville—its local news, influence on Central Ohio, and how surrounding areas shape the community.
Explore more hyper-local reporting by subscribing to The Hilliard Beacon, Civic Capacity, Marysville Matters, The Ohio Roundtable, Shelby News Reporter, This Week in Toledo, and Into the Morning by Krista Steele.
