Outside Looking In

Aw, shucks!
Over the weekend, I drove over to Walmart, which is just down the road from my home in Willmar, to grab a few items.
After gathering the things I needed, I started to head to the checkout lines. As I neared the produce section, which is located next to the self checkouts, I noticed several people with carts had formed a line four or five deep by the vegetables.
I figured there must either be a fight or they are giving out free samples of something because that's what generally draws a crowd in a grocery store. So, I headed over that way to see what was so enticing to all these people.
As I got closer, I could see a man standing in front of a large cardboard container filled with sweet corn. With no regards to the others waiting in line, this man methodically shucked ears of corn right on the spot and placed them in a translucent plastic bag. Impatient customers were mumbling various curse words under their breath and sighing loudly; the latter mostly coming from me. The man carefully inspected each ear to see if it met his specifications before beginning the lengthy unveiling process. He made sure to get every piece of silk off the cob by first holding it up to the light.
Next to the sweet corn, employees had placed a large garbage bin for customers to throw the husks in.
One lady politely asked this man to please hurry so she could finish her shopping, but he only turned and looked at her and shrugged.
Unfortunately, now I was developing a taste for corn on the cob as I watched him rip apart the husks of each ear of corn as though he were Edward Scissorhands. I hadn't had corn on the cob since last summer and it's one of my favorites, so I decided to wait for a few minutes.
I am admittedly a very impatient person, especially when I have more important things to do than wait for someone to strip corn in a store. It soon dawned on me that I might have to purchase a sleeping bag from the sporting goods department because at the rate this man was going, I might have to spend the night in Walmart if I wanted any corn to take home.
As I watched him toss the husks and silk from each ear of corn in the general vicinity of the garbage bin, it was obvious this man never played basketball because he was only hitting the target at about a 10-percent clip. The floor had accumulated far more husks than the garbage can did.
When the man finished, he had about 12 to 15 cobs of corn cleaned to perfection and placed in his bag.
I still had to wait for three or four people ahead of me before I would get a chance to grab whatever was left in the bin. Two ladies ahead of me each grabbed three or four cobs and left quickly. But the lady ahead of me stood and shucked a few ears, too, so I just reached over her and grabbed the first two ears I could get my hands on. Unfortunately, they were each only as big as a large dill pickle, but I kept them anyway because Mr. Scissorhands had pretty well cleaned out the best cobs.
I asked one worker at Walmart why the store encouraged people to shuck corn in the store by placing a garbage can next to the bin. He told me that before the garbage can was there, people would shuck the corn right in the bin and others were complaining because they didn't want to dig through all the husks and silk to find the corn. Some were so upset, he said, that they would just throw the husks on the floor to get a better look at the cobs.
All the way home, I thought to myself what the reason could possibly be as to why people can't shuck the corn at home?
I even searched online for an answer. What I found should be posted by the corn bin. When stripping the corn of its natural wrapper, it speeds up the process of converting the corn's sweet flavor into starch and also causes it to dry out quicker. In turn, the corn turns chewy and starchy.
Since corn is priced by the ear and not by the weight, shucking doesn't reduce the cost.
In other words, unless you are tailgating in the Walmart parking lot or plan on grilling the corn on your radiator on your drive home, it makes NO SENSE to shuck corn in the store.
It also seems like nearly every customer peels back a little section of the corn to see it it's a good cob or not. That is also unnecessary. If the husk is vibrant green and the silks of the tassels are still soft to the touch, it's fresh and ready to take home. If you want, go ahead and shuck it and throw the husks on the floor of your kitchen if that makes you feel any better.
I wonder what employees and other shoppers would think if I started doing that with other items in the store.
It isn't just Walmart that I am blaming. They also do this at the other grocery stores I've been in. Even one store that had posted "Do not remove husks in the store" had husks nearly burying the sign.
The next time I go in a store, I think I will peel bananas and oranges and throw the skins in the same bin as they are displayed in. I'll bring my vegetable peeler and a portable lawn chair with me and sit down and peel myself a bag of potatoes.
Or I will bring my melon baller and a large bowl and go to work on a watermelon and a honeydew.
When I get in the checkout line, I'll grab a few candy bars, scan the barcode and then unwrap them and put the candy in a baggie and toss the empty wrappers back on the shelf.
It all sounds a little ridiculous, but then so does standing in line waiting for someone to shuck corn in a store.
Besides, all I ended up with were a couple of dill-pickled sized ears of corn.