I REMEMBER WHAT MEREDITH, NEW HAMPSHIRE FARMER NATE MOULTON TOLD ME

By Bernie Marvin

I REMEMBER WHAT MEREDITH, NEW HAMPSHIRE FARMER NATE MOULTON TOLD ME MANY YEARS AGO ABOUT HARVESTING FIRST-OF-THE-SEASON CORN ON THE COB: "AFTER YOU PICK THE CORN, RUN, DON'T WALK, WITH IT TO THE BOILING WATER!"

Of course, what he meant was that within minutes of being picked fresh from the cornfield, those early ears start to break down and get starchy. This is a natural occurrence, where the sugars 

convert to starch after the corn is picked off the stalk.

This is one of the reasons you want to get those fresh-picked ears shucked and immediately dropped into boiling water. The faster you can do this, the fresher the corn will be, and the tastier, sweetest it will be. 

As a kid in high school and before, working at Nate Moulton's farm in Meredith, I remember there were a good number of worms on the tips of the corn ears, but that did not discourage anyone from enjoying the product. The ends of the ears were cut off before they were dropped into the boiling water. It was as simple as that.

Nate did not use chemistry to control weeds, diseases, or bugs, and a few tipworms did not discourage folks from just picking them off the end of the ears and continuing to drop the ears into boiling water. We enjoyed working the corn. There were several hundred acres of it in the adjacent fields, and it was picked fresh and delivered daily to customers around the shoreline of nearby Lake Winnipesaukee.

Nate, with many years of experience growing things on Mother Earth and selling them to eager customers, knew his products well. His farm, by the way, continued operating on the vast acreage around Quarry Road in Meredith and today is one of the key farm markets in the Lakes Region, maintaining an outstanding assortment of ag products, fruits, vegetables, classes, a fish market, a bakery, and more.

In the early days of the 50s and 60s, Nate was primarily a dairy farmer. He, his wife, Ruth, and his son, Edwin, ran the farm. I worked there for many summers before I graduated from Winchester High School, and two weeks later, I enlisted in the US Marine Corps for the next four years. 

That military service marked the end of my farming days with the Moulton family. But the things I learned while working on their farm for so many of my formative years stuck with me and prepared me for many of my Marine Corps adventures.

For instance, I learned how to take orders, interpret them quickly, and execute them in a way that pleased Nate Moulton. I learned how to listen. Nate Moulton did not repeat his requests while we worked the farm fields. I listened to his questions and gave my answers. I did not say " hmmm" or "haw." I did not use words like "ya" or "like." 

Working around the farm, such as haying, milking, or doing other chores, I was asked to do things that were well above my pay grade. None of it mattered to me, as I was comfortable around Moulton Farm and never balked a bit when asked to do this or that.

All my jobs and activities resulted one day in my being told to jump on the gray 1947 Fordson tractor and drive it from point A to point B. I did this with no disasters, and it was the day I felt I became a man. I did not know anyone else at 11 years old who was ever allowed to drive a tractor at that age.

By the time I left the Moulton Farm for my trip south to Parris Island for Boot Camp, Nathan had trained me well on the ins and outs of perfecting good corn, both on the stalk and in the pot. I learned that you do not shuck or strip the corn until it is in the boiling water.

These tips, gleaned from corn experts like Nate and Ruth Moulton, were passed on to my family. My mother was pleased as punch that her young son knew all about growing, harvesting, and now properly cooking corn on the cob.

Also, I knew that if you could not cook it right away, then it must be refrigerated. The kernels stay plump, which slows the sugar-to-starch conversion. Have your water boiling vigorously; don't salt the water, but do salt the corn. 

When the vigorous boil is reached, drop the corn in, immediately turn off the heat, and put a tight-fitting cover on the pot. Let it steep, like a fine Chinese tea, for five minutes. Remove and rush it onto the table for the finishing application of a prohibitive amount of fresh butter and a sprinkling of salt.

On the Moulton Farm, Ruth churned her own butter from their herd's sweet cream, and it was, as the person said who described a candy bar, I believe, as indescribably delicious." The world of corn was all that and fun, too.

Area farm stands have it in their bins, and it is available at prices as high as 80-85 cents per ear, and less per ear when you purchase by the dozen. One sour note on this year's crop is the incidence of worms. 

For some years, we have seen a worm on the tip of our ear. Although not a big deal regarding the goodness of an ear of corn, the corn earworm is at the end of some of the harvested sweet corn I came across last weekend.

Some farm stand attendants said the corn was somewhat late this year, as it usually hits the market around mid-July. Fresh sweet corn picking for some farmstands started about Thursday, July 27.

UNH Extension experts in their fact sheet said the corn earworm is the worst enemy of sweet corn and may be discovered when it is too late to control. It is a countrywide problem and particularly damaging in the south.

One sign posted at a farm stand indicated that the worm appeared in this year's crop because of the rainstorms and winds coming here from the south. The eggs of the moth are laid directly on the corn silk. The waves of moths come here to the North Country throughout the warmer summer months.

The extension noted that the eggs hatch about 2 to 10 days after being deposited on the corn, and the larvae begin eating the silk. When the silk dries, the larvae move to the tip of the corn and begin feeding on the kernels. Late corn can be the most vulnerable, as ears can be attacked by both domestic moths and those flying in from the south.

I toured farmstands in the area, and there is plenty of corn for sale. The tip of some ears may have a worm or the evidence of a worm and can be cut off with a kitchen knife. There is no need to reject an ear of corn because of tipworm damage.

The corn I bought last Sunday was fat and sugary, and a worm or two on the tip of the ear did not diminish its first corn-of-the-year flavor, which was bright, crunchy, white, yellow, and sweet.

As a kid working at the Nate Moulton farm in Meredith, I remember there were a good number of worms on the tips of the ears, but that did not discourage anyone from enjoying the product. The ends of the ears were cut off before they were dropped into the boiling water.

Nate did not use any chemistry to control weeds or bugs, and a few tipworms were worth knowing that it was a pure product. We enjoyed the corn very much. Plenty of it is in the fields waiting to be harvested, so enjoy it!