Mexican Elotes Salad with Amaize Sweet Corn

If you know me at all, you know that the way to my heart is through a good pun. There is a tiny portion of my brain that virtually never turns off, which constantly filters the words I’m hearing for pun potential. I’ve literally had a friends text me puns they’ve thought of…or (pre smart phones) call describe  a fabulous billboard pun they’d passed. It’s my love language.

So when I first heard of Amaize Sweet Corn, it immediately earned a special place in my heart. Amaze. Maize. You see where this is going. And I’m pretty sure I’d love its creators – George Crookham and Bruce Hobdey – who, after over 22 years of developing this unique sweet corn, named it something so utterly clever.

Okay, so here’s what’s so Amaize-ing (it only gets old if you let it):

Amaize corn is a white variety, but don’t let that fool you. It’s full of flavor and just as sweet as any yellow sweet corn you’ve tried. Amaizing taste, how sweet the corn.
But perhaps the best part of Amaize is its texture. In the past few years, I’ve fallen for using raw sweet corn in recipes because I lurve that crunch, but Amaize actually keeps its crunch after being cooked. It never becomes mushy.

The growers of Amaize sweet corn only use traditional and natural breeding methods; in other words the corn is never genetically modified. It’s only available for a few months in the summer, and I’m sorry to say, in select states and cities, but should you be in one of those places, will you please try this for me?

Because if you know me at all, you know that I love sweet corn. I literally grew up surrounded by sweet corn fields, and my summer was filled corn on the cob for lunches and dinner. And I’m telling you, this is some fabulous sweet corn.

Now, I’m the last person who would tell you that anything is better than grilled sweet corn, rolled in butter, and loved with salt. But Mexican Elotes comes pretty close. We first tried elotes a few years ago – grilled corn, slathered with a south-of-the-border mix of mayo, sour cream, cheese, chili powder, lime juice, and more. But admittedly, elotes can be pretty sloppy to eat…and well, mayo. If you know me at all, you know I hate mayo with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

So when I was thinking of what to do with my Amaize corn, I wanted to make elotes, but with a few tweaks. I wanted it in salad form to increase it’s eatability, but decided this corn needed to buddy up with some of its summertime pals: lettuce, bell peppers, green onions, and cilantro. And then I made an elotes-like dressing based on traditional sour cream salad dressing recipes – three cheers for omitting mayo.

And the result was so summery fresh. All that crunch and texture from the star of the show – the grilled Amaize corn – its sweetness pairing fabulously with the tang and creaminess of the dressing.

For my fellow Minnesotans, Amaize corn will be available at Lunds & Byerly’s in early August. For the rest of you, check out where you can buy your share. It really is amazing.

Disclosure: I received compensation from Amaize Sweet Corn for recipe development purposes, but my opinions (and full belly of corn) are all my own.