Husk Archives - Bloom.

Oh, baby!

Long time, no blog.

Universities are closing down, so work has been busy. The garden is gearing up and baby chicks have arrived, so that’s busy. Weekends have been full of family gatherings for the last few weeks. And, I even got to go on a great girls trip with a bunch of my sorority sisters!

We all met ten years ago as freshman and after a whole lot of weekends over the last five years celebrating quite a few marriages, we found ourselves wedding-less in 2015. (However, there will be one baby…!)

After Breakfast Club, a Purdue Tradition, in 2008.

So, to celebrate our decade of friendship- and make sure that we all see each other this year- we headed south and spent an excellent long weekend in Charleston, South Carolina.

Charleston is one of my favorite cities.

As a kid, we used to visit the city when vacationing in Hilton Head and Kiawah Island. I even considered the College of Charleston when trying to figure out where to apply to college when I was a high school senior. The College of Charleston has a strong hospitality and tourism program thanks to the surrounding industry, particularly the restaurant industry.

Charleston has topped “Best Food City” lists in The Washington Post, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, The Travel Channel, Tasting Table and many more.

And, this may be one- of the many- reasons it topped our list too.

Once we decided on Charleston, I got a phone call from my old roommate, fellow Hospitality grad, and major food aficionado, Anne. (Anne’s resume boasts gigs at Chicago’s Four Seasons and The Signature Room.)

“We HAVE to get a reservation at Husk,” Anne exclaimed.

I agreed. Husk was on my radar too.

I had tried to get in last summer when I was in town for a convention but couldn’t. It was then that I had learned that Husk’s ever-changing, seasonal menu is full of Southern classics like okra, deviled eggs, grits and fried chicken with an elevated, modern-culinary touch. Husk has partnerships with many local farms, growers, fishmongers and even a mill out of Columbia for the restaurant’s grains.

When Anne called, it was January and we couldn’t make a reservation until 90 days out. So, we both made a note and revisited our reservation goals in March.

And, it was then that the miraculous happened: We got one!

For NINE people.

On a Saturday…!

… at 5:00.

We have never made reservations so early (in time and in terms of a calendar…) in our life. Even the dining courts didn’t open that early. But, we didn’t care. We were over the moon and couldn’t stop talking about all we were going to eat.

The night of our reservation arrived, we all got a little dolled up as Husk has a relaxed yet chic vibe, and headed downtown. Husk’s building is a quintessential historic southern home with a big, wrap around porch on each story, complete with rocking chairs.

Once seated, we started our meal with a handful of appetizers such as fried chicken skins with hot sauce and honey, pig ear lettuce wraps, and the most amazing pimento cheese on crackers.

I decided that the night warranted bubbles, so I sipped on Thibault-Janisson sparkling wine from Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville is the home to University of Virginia which is where my parents met and is my namesake. I thought it was appropriate for the evening.

For dinner, I chose a cider glazed pork dish that was paired with my favorite spring vegetables, asparagus and ramps. I asked the sommelier to recommend a good wine to pair with the meal. He brought out a chilled red La Sibilla Piedirosso from Italy. It was light and a perfect compliment to the fresh flavors of the dish.

Other plates that were a hit at our table were the Cornmeal Dusted Catfish paired with sweet creamed corn that earned a trip around the table for everyone to taste and a huge vegetable platter for Haleigh, who is a vegetarian. We also passed cast iron skillets of corn bread with bacon and the sweetest, creamiest grits I had ever had in my life. It tasted like a dessert!

And speaking of dessert, we took one glance at the menu and knew we were in trouble.

After passing four different options around the table… twice, I dubbed the fresh strawberry short cake my favorite of the night. Although, it was tough competition and I knew the peanut butter pie would have been right up Adam’s alley.

As we wrapped up the meal, we stopped by the bar at Husk thanks to a recommendation from our very helpful waiters.

The “bar” is actually a small, old, building next to the home that still has the original exposed beams and bricks. By that time of the evening, it was pretty crowded. But, it is worth stopping in even if you don’t have reservations for a cocktail or bourbon.

While our meal at Husk lived up to- and beyond- every single expectation we had, it wasn’t the only great meal of the trip.

I absolutely loved our lunch at Butcher and Bee, a super cute, BYOB brunch/lunch and late night spot. Butcher and Bee was totally my style with long tables, mix and matched chairs, wild flowers in old mason jars as center pieces and chalkboard menus.

I ordered the uber-fresh, seasonal house salad chock full of radishes, asparagus, spring peas, pistachios and lentils with a can of kombucha.

From our group, I also heard great things about the grilled cheese, french fries, and massive cheeseburger with special sauce.

My group of girls also has a thing for cupcakes. We have visited cupcake shops in any and every city we visit together. So, naturally, we made a pit stop not once, but twice, at Sugar Bakeshop for cupcakes.

Sugar is the sweetest (no pun intended…) little place.

I fell in love with not just the look of the shop but also their almond cupcake. Blueberry Vanilla, Caramel, and Lime Curd Coconut were also favorites of the bunch. In addition to cupcakes, Sugar also has tarts, cookies and pies on the menu… but we stuck to our tradition.

Before the trip was over, we were already having conversations about where we might enjoy our next cupcake.

Maine, Mexico, and Nashville top the list!

A selfie on the Carriage Tour downtown.

Note: We actually stayed in Folly Beach, not downtown. We rented a great condo on vrbo.com that was within walking distance of the beach and the main strip of Folly Beach Island. Staying in Folly Beach, we got a good balance of city and beach as downtown Charleston was only about a twenty minute drive.

Folly Beach was full of great spots too such as Taco Boy (Kim Chi Beef and Avocado Tempura Tacos were to die for), BLU at the Tides hotel (great cheviche, fried green tomatoes and scallops… and Prosecco… we had a lot of Prosecco here), and Woody’s Pizza (the prosciutto and artichoke heart pizza was perfect).

And, the Folly Beach night life surprised us! It’s actually dubbed the “Bachelorette Party Capitol of the World” by the locals. We had a great time at Loggerheads (great outdoor deck and live music), Surf Bar (a “locals” bar), and we actually shut down Snapper Jacks (… thanks to a great DJ that played all our favorites from fratty-rap songs to Taylor Swift.).

Out in Folly Beach!

I first visited the home Adam grew up in about five years ago. We were about to go on a canoe trip and he needed to pick up some of his camping supplies. While there, he also decided to change the oil in his truck.

(… I have said it before and I will say it again: The guy is handy.)

It was pre smart phones so I got bored rather quickly. While he was elbow deep in his truck, I decided to walk around. His childhood home was surrounded by fields that are farmed each year rotating between soybeans and corn. That year it was corn. We were there in late August and the corn was as tall as Adam.

As I walked towards the edge of the driveway and up to the start of the corn field, I remember being so surprised. Each stalk only had one ear, maybe two, of corn.

Really? That’s it?

As a Midwestern girl, born and raised, I have driven on highways surrounded by corn fields all my life. I could have sworn there were at least six ears to a stalk.

I walked back into the garage and squatted down to Adam’s level.

“Hey Bud. Random question… Are there really only one or two ears of corn on a corn stalk?” I asked.

Adam slid out from under his truck with a confused look on his face.

“Well, I thought there would be, like, six or seven ears. The corn out there only has one.” I tried to explain, what apparently was, a weird question.

“Yep. Just one. Sometimes two. Depends.”

Hmm, I thought looking back at the field.

Field corn surrounding our new home. (And the chickens. Arn’t they cute?!)

Now I was the confused one. “It seems kind of inefficient. It’s just, a stalk takes up a lot of space. And you only get one ear?”

“Yep,” Adam said, sliding back under the truck.

Still looking out at the corn, still perplexed, I asked another question: “So, when can we eat it?”

Adam laughed.

“Babe. We won’t eat that. That’s not sweet corn. It’s field corn. Sweet corn is a different kind of plant. It’s mainly grown in the south.”

Umm. What?

All these years of driving around Illinois, Indiana and Ohio I thought I was looking at what would wind up at a picnic and here I am, at twenty-one years old, learning all this?

Later, I shared my newfound knowledge with my east coast raised father. In his mid fifties, he had the same reaction to the news that corn stalks only have one or two ears: “Really? Never knew that. That seems inefficient.”

That’s what I am saying..!

However, he was in on the sweet corn versus field corn thing…

And while Indiana is home to acres of field corn that will eventually become oils or ethanol, many farmers and home gardeners in Indiana do grow sweet corn.

However, this year, Adam and I were not one of them.

Sweet corn is a little challenging to grow. Its success relies on the amount of rain during the growing season and the amount of attention the grower is able to give it. Two things we couldn’t guarantee at the beginning of the summer.

But, it was okay. We also knew we wouldn’t be without corn. Everyone around us grows sweet corn. It pops up on every other corner within ten miles of our home at temporary farm stands throughout the late summer.

Fortunaly, rain was not an issue this summer. Everyone who grew sweet corn had success. Many of Adam’s clients grew sweet corn and he would receive ears of it by the bushel every day. Free of charge.

We couldn’t eat it fast enough so we decided to freeze it. Freezing any vegetable, especially corn, is a great way to lock in fresh, natural flavor.

Here is how we did it:

Note: You want to either eat or process corn as soon as possible. The longer ears of corn sit untouched the more nutrients and flavor are lost.

Step One: Shuck all the corn. Pull all greens and silks from the ears.

Step Two: Get set up. Bring a pot to a boil and get a bowl of ice and water ready. We actually used a clean cooler filled with ice water because we were working with so much corn.

Step Three: Boil corn for about five minutes.

Step Four: Remove corn from boiling water and immediately place into ice water. This will stop the cooking process and ensure all the sweet corn flavor that you know and love will remain with the corn.

Step Five: Remove corn from ice water after about five minutes. Remove kernels from corn cob.

There are a lot of neat gadgets out there to make the removal of corn kernels easy, but a knife works just fine. What we did here was turn a small bowl upside down and place in the center a large skillet. Running the knife along the cob as it’s held on top of the small bowl, the kernels will fall into the skillet making collecting the kernels (and clean up) easy.

Step Six: Place corn onto baking sheets and freeze. Once frozen, use a spatula to remove corn from baking sheet and fill into freezer bags, squeezing out as much air as possible. Keep in the freezer for up to a year.

The flavor of sweet corn frozen at home is so much sweeter and authentic than corn from major frozen vegetable companies. This is because those companies remove so much of the corn’s natural sugars in their processing as it can make their continually used equipment very sticky. Not to mention, they would have to get the corn frozen much more quickly than they do. Otherwise, they are going to go into whiskey making business fast.

But there are some businesses trying to break the traditional manufactured sweet corn mold.

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet two incredibly inspiring Indiana entrepreneurs who are trying to bring the “Home-Preserved” fresh flavor of sweet corn to the commercial market. I even got to tour their brand new processing facility.

Working the big hair net on the tour… Looking good, right?!

Through their new business, Husk, they are purchasing sweet corn straight from farmers just around the corner from their processing plant. With a little creativity (Example of this? French friers full of boiling water versus oil to cook the many corn cobs received every day.) and a ton of motivation they are changing the frozen corn market in Indiana.

Since their inception at the start of this year’s sweet corn season, they have cut and frozen 60,000 pounds of sweet corn. Check them out: http://huskfoods.com/

And, Hoosiers, If you can’t find their product at your favorite grocery store, request it!

The Girls Do Charleston

A Corny Post.