Good Food
We know it’s corny but… do not fear the worm
It doesn’t get much more summer than corn. With and without worms! Don’t be alarmed if you find one crawling in an ear, says the chef at Miro, Gavin Mills, who is picking up some bicolor corn at the Finley Farm stand this week.
By Joseph Stone • • 1 min readFirst, some real talk: If you’re husking an ear of corn and you find a little critter in there, munching away at kernels, you might be tempted to throw that corn up in the air and head for the hills. But don’t do it. Fnding worms in your fruits and vegetables can actually be a good thing. It’s probably a sign that pesticides have not been used in the growing of your produce. Gavin Mills, chef at the recently opened Miro in downtown LA, suggests simply cutting off the wormy bit: “I usually try and release the worm back into the wild. I’ll put him in one of my plant pots that’s out front of the restaurant because he deserves to live too. From there we just eat away. It’s so delicious.”
Mills likes to buy his bicolor corn from Finley Farms because it’s organic, sweet and has fat kernels. The Finley Farm corn fields in Santa Ynez are never sprayed with pesticides. When the tassels turn brown, the corn is ripe, ready to be picked and brought to market. Try Miro’s recipe for corn and tomatillo salad with crispy pig ears — fancy! — on theGood Food blog.
Corn from Finley Farms
Photos by Joseph Stone/KCRW