This Food Find is a handy little gadget, dare I say a must-have, if you like to eat and use fresh corn kernels in your cooking, and, if you are powerless over specialized kitchen tools, which I just may be. After spying this tool in one too many kitchen supply stores, and asking myself “Do I really need this?” I stumbled across my current version in a discount store - the same corn zipper I had seen before but at an undeniable price. So of course, I snapped it up, and have made regular use of it ever since. I have to report, it is truly worth adding to your collection if you are a corn lover, so the answer to the question, “Do I really need this?” is a definite “yes!”
For many years past, I used the age old method of running a knife down the length of the cob to release the kernels, and while this is effective, I find it is easy to get the knife in too deep to the cob, making the cutting more difficult and also releasing too much of the chewy cob into each corn kernel. Enter - the corn zipper! Similar to a vegetable peeler, but with the right spacing for corn kernels and with a row of sharp micro teeth instead of a single blade, the corn zipper efficiently strips the corn off the cob complete with an unzipping-like noise! Unlike using a knife, the released kernels are cut from the cob at just the right point, meaning no more chewy ends to the kernels, and no more awkward knife work.
Every late summer I make a point of buying dozens of cobs of local organic corn to unzip and freeze for fall and winter eating, and this useful tool has made this happy ritual even easier. I can’t attest to the corn zipper being any less messy to use than the traditional knife method - sweet corn juice still splatters on the counter in either case, but as an added bonus, every time I think of the term ‘corn zipper’ it puts a smile on my face.
A corn zipper like mine or other similar versions can be found in any well stocked kitchen supply store or from online vendors. If you live in Toronto, I’ll happily tell you where I found my discount version!
If you have corn kernels on hand, either fresh or frozen, try them in my Corn and Miso Soup, Potato, Corn, and Green Bean Salad with Feta Cream and Herbs , or Corn Soup with Dill and Ginger. And once you have unzipped your corn kernels, make Corn Broth with the cobs!