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The Secret to Shake-Shucking Corn Without Leaving Any Silky Threads

Freshly harvested green vegetables with roots, resting on a wooden surface.

One of the biggest time-consuming nuisances for any barbecue is prepping corn on the cob. If you've got a lot of mouths to feed, shucking corn is just downright painful, thanks to all of those silk strings that hide in the crevices of the kernel rows.

But thanks to America's favorite kitchen invention, the microwave, you can just nuke the annoyance right out of shucking corn. Note: the audio in the video below is no longer working, but you don't need it anyway. Just watch and learn, or scroll down below for another good video.

Nuke

Just leave the corn in its husk, microwave on high for about four minutes.

Remove

Remove from your microwave and get ready to extract the corn cob.

Cut

As you can see in the video above, all you've got to do is cut the base off the husk.

Cut fresh corn on a wooden cutting board with a knife.

Deep South Dish

Shake!

Grab the top of the corn and shake the cob out. It should easily slide out—WITHOUT those annoying stringy silk threads.

A person holding corn on the cob and a pineapple in a kitchen setting.

Then you can just eat as is with a little butter or throw it on the grill for a few minutes to get that mouthwatering, smokey BBQ flavor. Now, just in case you missed all of that, let's watch another video for a more up-close and personal view.

Cover image via Phil Roeder/Flickr

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