“A piece of homemade bread was buttered and then used to slather the salted ear of corn, thus, in true Italian fashion, creating two dishes out of one, the ear of corn being the first dish and the homemade bread (now saturated with the melted butter, salt, and sweetness from the buttered kernels) being the second. This may have been the single most delicious part of an already delicious meal.”

Stanley Tucci, Taste: My Life Through Food

I’m not absolutely clear what it is about lime which makes it go so perfectly with corn – the citrus certainly cuts through the rich, earthy, muskiness of the corn, but so would lemon, wouldn’t it? But lime is much better.

Also good with the cushiony corn is a little gritty, textured salt.

So by mixing the lime zest with the rock salt you achieve the perfect companion to the corn…along, of course, with the third essential musketeer – the rich, nutty butter.

Of course, you can add to the gloriousness of it all by applying bread and butter as described by Stanley Tucci, above.

Recipe for corn-on-the-cob bejewelled by lime crystals

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 cobs of corn
• 150g/5 oz butter
• zest of two limes
• 3 tbsps sea salt crystals
• 2 tbsps chopped chives

Method

1. Boil a big saucepan of well-salted water.
2. Add the cobs and boil for seven or eight minutes.
3. Mix the lime zest into the salt crystals.
4. Melt the butter gently. Add the chopped chives (or snip them directly into the molten butter), and add two teaspoons of the limed salt.
5. Drain the cobs, and serve with the butter and a little extra salt over them, and serve the remaining salt for people to help themselves.

For an alternative way of cooking corn on the cob, follow this link for Indian-accented corn on the cob.