The citizens of Iowa are truly the children of the corn. If you ever find yourself traveling through the Hawkeye State you'll notice for miles and miles the fields of corn stalks being prepared for harvest. Surprisingly, due to this year's cool, wet spring, Iowa had a shortage of corn available for the state's usual summer festivities. With corn being such a surplus in the state, Iowa is known for throwing celebrations for their prized crop. This year, the Des Moines Sweet Corn Festival celebrated its 40th anniversary and the West Point Sweet Corn Festival received a turn out of over 25,000 attendees.
While there is a plethora of different preparation options for sweet corn, nothing beats the traditional way of enjoying one of these bad boys fresh out of a vat of boiling water and buttered to create that perfect balance of sweetness bursting from the ears of corn and salty from the applied melted butter. For more of a crunchy texture, Iowa sweet corn straight off the grill is a better option of preparation.
Over the years, weve seen so many food trends come and go, such as ramen burgers, matcha, and spiked ice-cream. Nowadays, were seeing another trend making waves in the food industry. How many times today have you seen an Instagram photo of a scoop of black ice cream, or a cup of black yogurt, or hamburgers with black buns? Indeed, the charcoal trend has taken the world by storm.
So, what gives your latte that deep black shade? Activated charcoal, or coconut ash, is produced by heating coconut shells to insanely high temperatures until theyre burnt to a crisp. The ashes are then increased in size by steaming at high temperatures. Through this process, the ashes become a strong detoxifier, mostly because they become extra absorbent. This product may be purchased in pill form, and promises to alleviate hangovers, minimize the effects of food poisoning, and fight the visible signs of aging.
Activated charcoal is said to boost ones energy as a result of decreasing toxins in the body. However, no evidence proves that detoxifying can lead to increased energy. Also, while it can help cure a hangover, it doesnt necessarily remove alcohol from your blood. It is also said to aid in debloating your stomach because it cleanses your colon but again, this all anecdotal and isnt supported by scientific evidence as of yet. All we can say for sure is that it is a proven detoxifier.