I Eat So Much Corn Now Thanks to This $10 Gadget
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Cutting corn kernels off of the cob is famously annoying. And while I’m generally pretty skeptical of single-use kitchen items, I’ve come around to certain ones that actually make my life easier. In other words: Do I need an apple corer? No, because aknifegets the job done perfectly. But a corn stripper? That’s a different story.
The journey to find one I could get behind was sparked several weeks ago after I had to tackle ten cobs for a dinner-party corn salad and thought,There must be a better way. I’m decent with a regular blade, but there’s no denying it’s a messy, tedious job. Slicing over a cutting board means bits fly all over; doing it into a bowl means less chance of kernel escape — but the angle can be tough. Either way, getting consistently sized kernels is nearly impossible. I always end up going too deep or too shallow at some point as I slide my knife down.
And so I bought two corn strippers to test them side by side. There are myriad options online, but for obvious reasons, I went with models from trusted brands. OXO — which sells many kitchentools,containers, andappliancesI love —makes onein the style of a Y-peeler but with tiny teeth to grip into the kernels as you slice down. I was optimistic, but it’s a true dud. That edge does not move smoothly, so you end up with swaths of mangled kernels still clinging on. And because you have to apply pressure directly forward and down, there’s no way to angle your hand and the blade once you reach the bottom of the cob (which, though not always elegant, is more possible even with a knife).
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Next up wasthis little gadget by Chef’n, a company that specializes in cheap single-use tools. I had one cookbook author and food stylist tell me about her love for the brand’sgreens strippera few years ago. My colleagueAmbar Pardilladeclared her own love for the brand’s unicycle-shapedgarlic chopper. So in looking for something to ease this peak-summer task, it made sense to turn to Chef’n for my second option.
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Chef’n’s corn stripper works beautifully. The mechanism of this one is different from OXO’s: The cutter is circular (it looks like a metal biscuit cutter), about the width of an average cob, and surrounded by a cylindrical plastic grip. You feed the cob through the metal ring and gently pull and twist all the way down. If you have particularly skinny or thick corn cobs, it might not get the job done, but I shucked five different ears with this (some from the grocery store, some from the farmers’ market) and they all fit.
What results is an incredibly clean stripping. Because it’s a short, rounded tool and not a longer one with a handle, my hand fits everywhere it needs to go to ensure that the kernels fall delicately into a bowl and nowhere else. The shape means I don’t have to worry about applying even pressure: This tool takes everything off at the same depth. And the twist motion is easy and relatively quick. It requires some dexterity, but it’s safe and simple-enough for a kid to use, too.
It might not be as helpful year-round as the greens stripper or garlic chopper, but for $10 and for the right person, it’s a seasonal shortcut that is, I think, worth a small amount of space in your drawer.
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