Cope's Dried Sweet Corn

John Cope’s corn couldn’t be more of a culinary secret to everyone outside of Rheems, Pennsylvania, if we’d made a national policy to hide it.

Martin Cope made his first batch in 1900, and despite a conspicuous lack of notoriety, the company is still doing it now as they were then. They buy corn only during the height of the season, when the sugars are at their highest. Quick to the drier—like olives for oil, one key is to get the corn into production right after picking, before its sugars start turning to starches. The drying caramelizes the natural sugars in the corn, lending a subtle toasty, sweet flavor that’s so pleasing you’ll want to eat it right out of the tin.

Anything you make with fresh corn is fair game for Cope's dried sweet corn. It really does make the best creamed corn I've ever had—a huge hit at our Roadhouse restaurant.

Recipe included on the package, where creamed corn is called "stewed corn."