I was very excited to find the large grain Andean corn called choclo in the frozen section of a Latin food market in my neighborhood. When we first lived in Peru, we missed the sweet North American corn, and could not understand the appeal of the giant, chewy corn known as choclo. Choclo has a nutty taste and heftier texture that is different and delicious, once you stop expecting it to taste like the super sweet corn we prefer in the US. In fact, our ordinary yellow corn is not particularly favored in South America, except as chicken feed!
South Americans add this special large kernel corn to many dishes, such as the excellent meat and corn pie know as pastel de choclo. One of the best ways to enjoy choclo is simply adding it to plain South American-style white rice.
Recipes with Choclo:Corn Salad with Queso Fresco
Chilean Beef and Corn Casserole - Pastel de Choclo
Humitas (Steamed Corn Tamales), Step-by-Step Order Frozen Choclo Online
Comments
“In fact, our ordinary yellow corn is not particularly favored in South America, except as chicken feed!”
ROTFL My dad is from Germany and he won’t eat any kind of corn. He says it’s pig food.
Could you use hominy instead?
Hi,
Hominy is regular corn that has been treated with lye, a traditional process to help remove the hulls, which gives it its distinct flavor – the same flavor in masa harina, or the ground corn masa used to make tortillas and tamales. If you like the taste of canned hominy, it would work fine in this recipe. The Andean choclo that you can buy frozen in Latin markets is just uncooked, unprocessed fresh (not dried) choclo corn, either on the cob or scraped from the cob. It does have a chewier texture and a nutty flavor, and when I’ve added to casseroles, it did remind me of hominy in some ways. But it hasn’t been treated with lye or dried. (although you can also buy dried choclo). Or you could just substitute regular fresh or frozen corn.
Hope that helps!
Choclo, I believe is very similar to what we call “cow corn” here in the US. Basically raised for cows and pigs. It is a large kernal though having never tried it, I don’t know how it ’s taste compares to choclo.