Enjoy Olathe's Annual Cob Hob Nob

The town of Olathe's population will swell 1400 percent on Saturday, August 2, when it hosts the annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. But you don''t have to head to Olathe to enjoy sweet corn -- Colorado annually produces more than 130 million pounds of it, and it's now in local...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 30, 2008

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The town of Olathe's population will swell 1400 percent on Saturday, August 2, when it hosts the annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. But you don''t have to head to Olathe to enjoy sweet corn -- Colorado annually produces more than 130 million pounds of it, and it's now in local grocery stores and at farmer's markets across the state.

You don''t have to eat it on the cob, either. Here's a recipe for Pasilla Corn Salsa, created by Chef Jason Morse of Valley Country Club in Aurora:

1 Pasilla peppers, stemmed 6 ears sweet corn, cooked, cut from cob, drained 12 leaves cilantro, chopped 1/2 small red onion, minced 12 cloves garlic, minced kosher salt to taste ground black pepper to taste 2-3 ounces balsamic vinaigrette 2 ounces agave

Soak peppers in hot water for thirty minutes, remove seeds, chop fine. Place all ingredients into a stainless steel mixing bowl and mix well. Serve.

For more corny recipes, go to the Colorado Department of Agriculture's website.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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