How to cook corn on the cob on a campfire

If you are going camping, make sure you drive by a local farmer’s market and pick up a dozen or more of freshly picked ears of corn.  To determine the amount of corn you will need depends on the number of people you are going to feed at once or the duration of your camping trip.  Corn is an easy food to carry around and it does not need special storage, as long as it is dry and cool.  The fresher the ears of corn are, the tastier your campfire corn roast will be.  During your camp out, you can plan many meals with corn on the cob.  You will also need to bring plenty of butter, salt, and a bucket or tub.

Once you arrive at your campsite, soak in water, as many ears of corn the bucket you brought can take.  The ears of corn, husk and all, should soak in the water for at least 30 minutes.  After you have settled into your campsite, to the point where there is a nice coal base burning in your fire pit.  A rule of thumb is, getting a fire burning as the highest priority when setting up your campsite, this way you are preparing for a nice meal and you can burn any debris found while sweeping your site.  By the time your sleeping bag is laid out, you are going to be hungry; setting up a campsite can burn plenty of energy.

When you are ready to eat, take the water soaked corn cobs from the bucket and place them into the campfire.  This can be done several ways.  The most convenient way is having a grill placed on top of the hot coals.  Another way is having rocks around you fire pit; the corn can be placed across the hot rocks to cook.  You can also strategically place the corn on top of a few pieces of wood laid out across the fire pit.  The key is not to let the husk or silky tips catch on fire, when this does happen, there is a good chance your corn cob is cooked.  When the top layer of husk is burning off and you can see the layers closer to the kernels is getting dry, the corn on the cob should be ready to eat.  The corn cobs can be handled using good forceps or even two sturdy sticks for the low tech campers.  The corn will usually be cooked when all the moisture has been driven out of every layer of husk.  The corn will start to dry up if you let the fire burn off the husk down to the kernels, no need to worry, even smoked corn taste good.  However, if you roast the cobs until the husk closest to the kernel is a light brown; the corn will be sweeter and juicier.

When the corn looks ready, grab, kick, or flip the corn cobs out of the campfire using your preferred cooking tool.  When the corn cobs have cooled to the touch, you can start peeling off the husk off.  This is done carefully since the husk will hold the heat inside the corn ear.  The more experienced campfire cook will have a good pair of thick leather gloves to remove the husk from the corn cobs and to even grab the cobs out of the fire pit.  Add a little butter and salt and you have a terrific tasting corn on the cob cooked on an open campfire.