So where I live, there are only a few calendar weeks of summer left, although you certainly can’t tell by the weather. And in this region, there are a few foods that are at their peak of not only availability but utter deliciousness as well. So I wanted to take a look at some of them and maybe (in the culinary sense) hang onto the season for just a little longer.

Corn – this staple of the modern diet has actually been around for a long, long time – about 10,000 years in fact – and was bred to innumerable varieties as it made its way around the world through different cultures and into different diets. There are six main types, based on their individual levels of sugar, and include not only the kind we use to feed livestock, but also the kind we like to snack on too: popcorn. The US is the world’s largest producer of corn at about 350 million tonnes a year, and although it is available all year around, it seems like the end of summer is the best time to enjoy these stalks of gold in my neck of the woods. There are plenty of ways to eat corn, and for my personal taste, there isn’t a bad one. Fresh off the cob (I like mine grilled), cream-style, elote herbido (Mexican street-style corn), in soups, casseroles – I could seriously go on forever. And although bingeing on it may not be the best idea, corn has plenty of good things to offer. It happens to be pretty high in B vitamins, mostly B5, which is critical in helping the body turn food into energy. It also has a healthy helping of B3, which is great for maintaining cardiovascular health and can improve cholesterol levels, too. If you can get your hands on some fresh corn this summer, don’t miss the chance.