The best corn-on-the-cob you'll ever eat, and an effective natural medicine too.

I like corn on the cob especially when it's fresh out of the field! Corn on the cob can be difficult to cook because you need to get a thoroughly cooked, but you also don't want to overcook it.

The best way I found to do this is to cook the corn in its own husk. First you pull the husk back so that you can expose the corn silk. The corn silk needs to be removed because it doesn't cook well and because you can use it for other things.

This is what the corn on the cob looks like and note that the tassel on the top of the corn silk is usually a dark brown and it has been exposed to air too long to be useful:

So to start this cooking process you peel the husk back and expose all the corn silk.
It will look like this:

Remove the corn silk and reserve it for later, then carefully place the husk back on one leaf at a time until it looks like this:

Once you have a closed up the shuck, you can either decide to cook it on a grill, an oven or cooking them in a microwave. The husk will protect the corn and contain the steam and get you a near-perfect ear of corn every time!

This is not a fast way to cook corn unless you microwave it but it does give you the best taste in the exact proper cooking level. If you're going to grill it Grill it until it just pops when you put finger on it. I usually microwave it because it's just my wife and I and I put four ears in at a time and run it for 4 minutes.

After it comes out of whatever cooking process you decide to use, shuck it just before serving; this retains moisture and heat. I like to use an oven glove and a piece of foil with butter, to make sure the corn us evenly buttered by wrapping it around the cob and running it back and forth.

Now to the medicine part of this, corn silk powder has long been used as a diuretic. The increased urine flow is normally used herbally for, inflammation of the bladder, prostate, and kidney in pelvic area. Painful burning difficult urination, water retention, it's intended to soothe and heal the urinary system. They used corn silk to treat gonorrhea, excessive uric acid build-up; which causes gout, kidney stones, arthritis and they are all treated herbally with corn silk powder.

This is what the corn silk looks like in a tray prepared to go into a warm the oven to dry it out. If I had more volume I would put it in a dehydrator; but it's not worth firing up a dehydrator, for 4 ears of corn silk.

Once totally dry you can grind this up in the mortar and pestle, to powder the corn silk, and make capsules out of it.

So eat, enjoy, be happy, and stay healthy!