Want More Flavorful Corn? Add These 2 Pantry Staples To Your Boiling Water

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Corn, and more specifically corn on the cob, is a summer barbecue staple. If you're slathering it with butter and salt, your cob is probably already pretty delicious. But there's actually one step you can add to the cooking process to enhance your corn on the cob's natural flavors.

This trick requires you to boil your cobs. Instead of just using water, add some sugar and lemon juice to the pot. The majority of the corn we eat is sweet corn, so this extra bit of sugar will play into those flavors and enhance them. When it comes to how much sugar to add, 2 tablespoons should be sufficient for six ears of corn. But you can experiment with more sugar if you want a sweeter bite.

To balance out all of this sweetness, lemon juice acts as an acid. If you're going with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice will work nicely. Because you're adding sugar, you shouldn't notice overly sour or tart notes in your corn from the citrus. Instead, the combination will create a more complex flavor profile. (Not using it to balance out your dishes is actually one of the mistakes everyone makes with lemon juice.) Some folks even credit the citrus with preventing mushiness. 

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There are so many ways you can experiment with flavors and cooking methods to craft the most flavorful corn on the cob. If you forgot to buy lemon juice but want the same effect, add 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar to your pot alongside the sugar. For those looking for a corn that's more buttery than sweet, adding a cup of milk and a stick of butter to your boiling water will infuse each kernel of corn with richness. One user on TikTok who tried this out called their corn "succulent and delicious." Some folks also add sugar to this combination to enhance both the buttery and sweet notes in their corn.

Once your corn is boiled, there are a number of things to put on corn on the cob that aren't butter that will supercharge the flavor. Craft Mexican street corn, a delicious bite that is typically topped with cotija cheese, lime juice, salt, Mexican crema, mayonnaise, and a dusting of cayenne pepper. In the event you can't find all of those ingredients, a mixture of mayo, cotija cheese, and taco seasoning will do in a pinch. For those who want to mask their veggies, corn on the cob can be drenched in melted cheese and bits of bacon.