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See why.Corn Strippers
Corn is great. Cutting it off the cob is not. Can a corn stripper make the process easier, neater, and safer?
By Published Mar. 15, 2021
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See Everything We Tested
What You Need To Know
Cutting corn off the cob can be a pain. The process is often messy, scattering kernels everywhere but the bowl or cutting board you’ve placed under the corn. And it’s prone to error: Cut too deep and get some of the hard, fibrous material that connects the kernels to the cob, or cut too shallow and lose out on some of that sweet, sweet corn. It can also be slightly dangerous—many of us worry about our knives slipping as they slice through the juicy corn. Enter corn strippers. These specialized gadgets promise to make the whole process of cutting both raw and cooked corn off the cob easier, safer, and more foolproof than using a knife. Since we last tested corn strippers, our former favorite was discontinued, so it seemed like a good time to take a new look at these gadgets. So we bought seven models, priced from about $7.50 to about $24.00, and used them to shear off kernels from ear upon ear of both cooked and raw corn.
Performance—and Safety—Vary Widely
Technically speaking, almost all the gadgets were capable of cutting corn off the cob. Only one failed outright. Built like a long, narrow wooden mandoline, it mashed the corn instead of slicing it off, no matter what we did to adjust the positions of the blade and corn. This corn mandoline was also the only gadget that truly made us fear for our fingers. Every time an ear of corn hit the blade, it stopped short and refused to go further unless we pushed very hard. Pushing hard wasn’t a good idea: With no guard with which to hold the corn, there was a distinct risk that our fingers would slide full force into the blade if we did so. We gave up trying to use this device after three attempts.
The rest of the strippers were safer to use, and most did in fact remove corn kernels from the cob. Alas, few did so well. Four of the strippers resembled vegetable peelers with curved blades. In theory, they made sense: Run the blade down the side of the cob and off come the kernels. The blades themselves were all sharp and cut easily, but the results were uneven; it was hard to gauge just how deeply to dig in with the blade, so some kernels were sliced off with the hard pith attached, and others were left half on the cob, requiring an extra pass to slice off the rest.
Another model, consisting of a circular blade enclosed by a ring of plastic, showed more promise. We simply placed the end of an ear of corn into the blade and then rotated the corn with one hand and the ring with another to cut off the kernels. We had to concentrate to keep the ring perfectly centered around the core of the cob, or else we cut unevenly or too deep, leaving pith on the kernels. We got decent results...
Everything We Tested
Recommended
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 3 stars out of 3.
This outlandish-looking tube-shaped gadget actually did a good job of stripping corn kernels from most cobs, thanks to two sets of plastic prongs that helped center the corn for more even, efficient cutting. And it did a great job of containing the mess, neatly holding the cut corn and preventing any corn spray from getting out. It was a little tricky to figure out how to use, but once we got the idea, the process was easy enough. The only problems: It can’t handle narrow or irregularly shaped ears of corn, and it has a surprising number of parts, all of which need to be washed when you’re done.
Not Recommended
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 3 stars out of 3.
With a dead-simple ring-shaped design, this corn stripper was easy to use, at least in theory: Just insert the corn into the middle of the stripper and rotate the gadget and corn in opposite directions; the blade inside the stripper unzips the kernels. Unfortunately, this motion made our wrists ache after stripping three ears of corn. And it was hard to keep the ring centered on the cob, so the gadget often cut the kernels too deeply or unevenly. The problem was worse with more irregularly shaped, less straight ears of corn, and the gadget couldn’t really handle small ears at all. Finally, while it was completely safe to use—the blade will never come anywhere near your hands—it wasn’t significantly neater than using a knife.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 2.5 stars out of 3.
We thought it would be easy to use this corn stripper, which resembles a vegetable peeler with a curved blade. But in practice, it was tricky to gauge how deeply to dig in with the blade across the length of the cob; as a result, it cut unevenly, leaving pith on some kernels and failing to take off enough of others. We also had to keep adjusting our grip to keep the ears of corn secure and steady as we attempted to cut, sometimes bringing our fingers dangerously close to the blade. Corn kernels and juice sprayed everywhere as we worked, making the process just as messy as using a knife, if not more so. Finally, the silk brush didn’t actually manage to remove any corn silk.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This vegetable peeler–style corn stripper was comfortable to hold, thanks to its grippy, rubbery handle. But we had a hard time figuring out how and where to hold the corn itself while cutting, often getting our fingers in the way of the blade in our efforts to stabilize the cob. Worse, we struggled to cut corn evenly and consistently with it; not only was it hard to determine how deeply to push into the corn, but the blade itself swiveled at the slightest contact, making it tricky to get it to bite into the kernels. Finally, it was messy: Corn kernels and juice sprayed everywhere.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 2.5 stars out of 3.
It was easy to hold this corn stripper, which was shaped like a computer mouse with rubbery grips on either side. But as with other vegetable peeler–style corn strippers, it was hard to gauge how deeply to cut into the corn, so we often sheared off the kernels unevenly. It was even harder to figure out where to hold the corn; to get a better grip on the cob so that we could cut securely, we often had to stick our fingers worryingly close to the blade. And it was messy, sending kernels and juice flying.
- Performance: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This vegetable peeler–style corn stripper made it difficult to remove corn kernels evenly across the cob and was no neater than using a chef’s knife—corn kernels and juice sprayed everywhere. As with other peelers, we struggled to position the corn so that we could get a secure grip on it, often putting our hands in the way of the blade. And the slick plastic handle was hard to hold, especially when our hands became wet with corn juice.
- Performance: 0 stars out of 3.
- Neatness: 0 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 0 stars out of 3.
- Safety: 0 stars out of 3.
Resembling a narrow, chute-like mandoline, this corn stripper was especially hard to use. We had to remove an insert meant to cream the corn and then use a screwdriver to adjust the height of the cutting blade—far more fussing than we’d prefer for such an occasional-use gadget. Try as we might, we couldn’t get the device to remove corn kernels almost at all; instead, the corn got mashed and pulped as we pushed it into the blade. Worse, we had to ram the corn into the blade to get it to catch—an extremely disconcerting maneuver that had us fearing for our fingers.
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The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.
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