Tank wrote:
> This year, I have noticed a number of grocery stores placing trash
> cans next to their sweet corn displays. This is for those people who
> feel it necessary to strip their corn there in the store. Are they
> placed there because the stores are knuckling under to rude people
> who peel back the ears to check them? What happened to being able to
> judge an ear without destroying it? What happened to simply taking
> the luck of the draw with your produce, as the human race has for
> thousands of years?
>
> Am I the only person who dislikes this trend?
> -- Tank
>


I only buy fresh corn at the supermarkets if it is so cheap they are
practically giving it away. I peel one or two representative ears back
a little to check if they are filled out OK and not overripe. If they
look OK (and at a nickel per ear, my standards are pretty low) I buy the
ones I checked and 10 or 12 more without even checking them.

I usually buy corn from trucks on the side of the road. When I'm
looking them over, the farmer usually shucks an ear a lot more than I
would to show me. I examine this a lot more than I do supermarket corn
to make sure it's really fresh, and I'm a little more careful picking
out the ears -- but I still don't peel back every ear.

Bob