A refreshing glass of corn juice!

July 23, 2010 8:20 PM

I recently went to China and was so excited to drink corn juice! They also had corn ice cream available on a stick. Now I'm home in Chicago and I'm craving those flavors. Do you know of a place I can buy them? I tried Chinatown but didn't have any luck.
posted by yfatah to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

I've had corn juice in China too, and it seems to me that you could easily make it yourself. To me it tasted like somebody had simply crushed the juice out of cooked corn.

Can't say that want more of it though....
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:27 PM on July 23, 2010

Response by poster: That's true, I could make either of them at home. I have made the ice cream but I'm just really looking for a mass produced version.
posted by yfatah at 8:33 PM on July 23, 2010

Well, if you want *something* with corn flavour, you can go to a local japanese market and look for the section with Pocky sticks. They will also have non-sweet sticks with pretty intense corn flavour (says popcorn flavour on the package), I don't remember the name of the brand, though. Might be Pretz, might be something else.
posted by rainy at 8:45 PM on July 23, 2010

The New York Times has this complex recipe:
Ingredients: 5 medium ears of corn
Preparation: Husk the corn and pull out the silk. Cut the kernels off of the cob. Pass the corn through a juice extractor.
Yield: One cup

Foodie NYC has a more basic method: barely cut the kernel tops off a juicy ear of corn and squeeze the "corn milk" from the corn with the back of a knife into a separate bowl. They go on to say that a juicer makes the process less arduous, but juicers are expensive, especially if you only want corn juice.

With all that said, Asia Food Journal has a PR-type article on commercial corn juice, which is labeled as a ‘fashion drink’, that consists of 25-percent sweetcorn juice. Perhaps what you had was not pure corn juice.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:55 PM on July 23, 2010

There is a latin american corn juice called Chicha. I have no idea if it is similar to the Chinese version since I've only tasted the latin american version. It was purple corn juice and it was one of the more repugnant things I've ever drank, but to each his own. So -- if there's a latin grocer convenient to you, that might do as a substitute.
posted by contessa at 10:14 PM on July 23, 2010

Korean roasted corn tea. It is served both iced and hot. Korean grocery stores should stock it. You can probably find mail order too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oksusu_cha
posted by manuelw at 10:27 PM on July 23, 2010

Best answer: I don't know if it's similar at all, but I've gotten corn ice cream at Filipino markets before.
posted by wintersweet at 11:09 PM on July 23, 2010

Brazilians also love their corn products; you might want to check a Brazilian market.
When I was in Sao Paulo, my wife insisted that we go to the Castelinho da Pamonha, a "Castle" dedicated to all kinds of corn dishes.

Click on "Doces" and "Salgados" to see the ridiculous variety of corn preparation.
posted by jozxyqk at 4:31 AM on July 24, 2010

Best answer: I've heard that Village Creamery often (maybe always) has corn ice cream; locations are at 8000 Waukegan Road Niles (corner of Waukegan and Oakton) and W. Oakton Street Skokie, IL (corner of Oakton and Kenton).
posted by carrienation at 6:56 AM on July 24, 2010

Best answer: Jeni's ice creams does a summer Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry flavor.

They're based in Ohio, but they do ship nationwide, and it looks like several gourmet food ships like Goddess & Grocer, Provenance Food & Wine, and Southport Grocery are carrying them in Chicago as well (map)
posted by BZArcher at 7:33 AM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I can't help with Chicago-specific recommendations, but I've had corn ice cream in Oakland at a Mexican ice cream stand. Yum.
posted by soleiluna at 10:41 AM on July 24, 2010