Monday, January 4, 2010

Corn ice cream



When I was in the 4th grade "Gifted and Talented" program (seriously) we had an assignment to come up with an invention. My invention was vegetable ice cream to help encourage kids to get their 5 a day. Obviously China ganked the idea from me because they have green pea, red bean and corn ice cream in their freezer cases. Despite having my million dollar idea stolen, it's slightly gratifying to realize that my invention was as brilliant as I had believed twenty years ago, it just needed to be executed in China rather than the Napa Valley.



The nice thing about this ice cream is that it is seriously corny. There's happy corn on the front, it's shaped like a corn cob and when you open the package you get a serious bang of canned corn off the whole thing. The smell was enough to inspire a small, ladylike gag.



What I assume must represent the husk is something that is similar to a very thin layer of regular (as opposed to sugar) ice cream cone or possibly styrofoam. Once you get through this, the payoff is pretty intense. The corn smell which just a moment earlier was enticing me to vomit in my mouth was now calling my name and filling my mouth with sweet, creamy goodness.

Much like my ice cream invention, the ratio of vegetable to sugar and fat was low, thus making it a truly enjoyable and completely non-nutritious treat. The corn flavor isn't overpowering; it's much more ice cream than it is a can of creamed corn. It was actually pretty good--if it hadn't had that weird corn husk coating and the rancid smell, I would actually eat it again. If anyone has any idea how I can get my royalty check for this idea, I'm all ears.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds a lot better than the corn gummis. I bet homemade corn ice cream, made with fresh corn, would be delicious. Cooks in medieval Europe often used vegetables in sweets, such as tomatoes, lettuce, and squash (the latter survives as pumpkin pie), so your brilliant childhood idea has a long and distinguished pedigree.

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  2. Always trying to crush my innovative spirit, eh

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  3. Hi Lina,

    This is Kyle Chayka. I work for new agency GlobalPost (globalpost.com) We'd like to use your corn ice cream photo for a piece we're doing on exotic ice cream. If you're interested, could you contact me at student@globalpost.com?

    Thanks,
    Kyle

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