Food, travel, recipe & sights

There is a Malay riddle that goes something like this:
Buka sarong (open sarong, a piece of cloth worn by males & females)
nampak bulu (see hairs)
buka bulu (part the hairs)
nampak biji (see the nut/seed)
buka biji (open the nut)
nampak batang (see the rod)

It sound like a naughty, double meaning riddle, isn’t it?

But it is actually the description of the corn. Over here in Penang, we get our corns mostly from other states like Kedah. Once in a while, I may find some freshly harvested corns. One can tell the freshness by looking at the stem, the part which they chopped off from the plant.

If the corn is very fresh, I would eat them raw. Have you tried it before? It is actually rather nice, crunchy and sweet. With a little bit of ‘greenish’ taste.

As for my kids, they like it being steamed. It is not difficult to steam the corn. I use the rice cooker to steam it for about 10 minutes. Or use the microwave. Put on high for only 3 minutes. If the corn is fresh, one need not even flavour it with butter and salt like those sold by stalls.

Then, another way of enjoying corn is to barbeque it. However, if not barbeque properly, the corn tend to be too dry.

I wonder if corn from the colder climate countries tastes better? After all, most of the canned sweet corn comes from the United States of America or Australia. And the corn sold in Cameron Highlands seem sweeter.