I love corn. In my travels, I’ve been lucky enough to find street vendors that sell cobs, and lots of dishes that make use of whole or ground kernels. I think that my absolute favorite way to eat corn on the cob is grilled. Here’s how I do it at home:
Grill the corn until quite a number of the kernels are toasty medium brown, and starting to get soft. Then put them in a foil pouch with a bit of butter on top, and let them steam for a while (~15 minutes) in the bag. To finish it off for serving, butter the rest of the corn and then drizzle honey on top.
The corn ends up taking on some of the grill flavor, is soft enough to comfortably munch through but has a firmer texture than boiled or steamed corn, and the honey brings the dish to perfection. Let me know if you try it, and what you think!
When venturing through the crowded market square of Merida, we happened upon a girl selling Xtabentún. We exchanged 70 pesos for a 250 mL bottle and continued on our way.
Xtabentún is a Licor de Anis y Meil de Abeja or, as Matt likes to call it, ‘nectar of the Mayan gods’. It is leggy and has distinct tastes of honey and anise. It is thicker than wine, but thinner than honey. The flavor is akin to ouzo and sambuca, but is sweeter and oh-so-much smoother. This is my new favorite liquor, and we both wish we had purchased a much larger bottle! If you are at all open to the anise/licorice flavor, I strongly recommend you try it.
Serving Suggestion: Xtabentún is great as a desert drink, served neat or on ice. I am also hoping to try it as a ice cream topping! (Will update when I try it, and let you know how it is.)
To check out Xtabentún:
http://www.casadearisti.com/productos.html
For more information about why honey is a unique product of the Yucatán, and a recipe for your Xtabentún, I highly recommend Rick Bayless’s Season 5 Episode 12.
Travel, Food, Reviews, and (of course!) Tea
the mint tea drinkers society 