How to Make Corn Silk Tea

Learn how to make corn silk tea. This is a simple tea that is very beneficial to our body and another way to use corn. Corn silk can also be preserved by drying which means you can easily make corn silk tea year round!

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We pretty much live in corn country here in central NC. Local farmers sell 12 ears of corn at the market for $4. It’s so affordable it almost doesn’t make sense to grow it yourself. We eat so much of it every summer, and every summer I dry the silk and use it for corn silk tea.

It’s really cool how useful corn is. We use the husk for art (the kids make dolls and such), the silk for “corn hair tea” (as my kids call it), the corn as food, and we give the cob to the chickens as a snack… We use every bit of it!

How to Make Corn Silk Tea…

What is Corn Silk?

Corn silk is the “hair” that you find under the husk of the corn. The stringy stuff can be used fresh or dried (I’ll show you how I dry it in a minute). It will change its color and darken a little bit if you decide to dry it but it will hold for a long long time. 

Corn Silk Tea Benefits…

• Corn silk is high in potassium and, therefore, has a diuretic effect on the urinary system. In other words, it promotes the production of urine which means it makes you pee, a lot.
• Corn silk will also help prevent kidney stones and is useful with other urinary problems like nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys), cystitis (urinary tract infection), and prostatitis (swelling and inflammation of the prostate gland).
• Corn silk is also known to reduce water retention in the body and may be beneficial in treating high blood pressure and gouty arthritis (uric acid builds up in the blood and causes inflammation in the joints). HERE is a good research for further learning.
• Another research shows that corn silk tea can be used to treat metabolic syndrome and assist in weight loss… 

“Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a very common medical problem worldwide. It includes obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and abnormal levels of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. It is closely associated with insulin resistance and may lead to diabetes mellitus, liver diseases, or cardiovascular diseases. Corn silk (CS), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been reported to have multiple beneficial effects, including hypotensive, anti-diabetic, and hypolipidemic properties. This suggests that corn silk could be used to treat or prevent metabolic syndrome.”

You can read the research HERE.

Ingredients…

• Corn cobs with the husk still on
• Honey, maple, or sugar if you like to sweeten your tea

A Simple Corn Silk Tea Recipe…

Step one – remove the silk. Start by removing the corn husk to expose the silk. Then peel the silk off the corn cob. The top part of the silk, the part that wasn’t covered by the husk, is usually dark and dirty looking. Cut that part off and discard.

Step two – dry the silk. There are two ways to do this… The first is to place the corn silk on a paper towel on the kitchen counter at room temperature and let it be for a few days. Every other day, turn it to make sure that it’s drying well. Within a few days, it will be dry and ready for tea. The other option is to place it in the dehydrator at 95 degrees F for 8-12 hours. Both ways are fine, choose whatever works best for you.

Step three – make corn silk tea. Grab about a tablespoon of dry corn silk and place it in a mug. Add boiling water and let the corn silk steep for five minutes before drinking.

Kitchen Notes…

• How to store corn silk – to store your dry corn silk, place it in a ziplock bag or a mason jar and leave it at room temperature on the self or in the pantry.
• Remove the silk or don’t – I usually leave my corn silk in the hot water as I drink my tea, however, if you like, you can remove it after letting it steep for a few minutes. You can also place it in a tea mesh bag so it’s not just floating around and is easier to remove if you choose to.
• Use the silk fresh – someone in the comments was asking why not use the silk when it’s still fresh. I think that you can, however, I feel like it tastes better when it’s dried (the water content is down and the flavor isn’t diluted) and I also feel that it’s easier to handle.
• Taste – of course, corn silk tea tastes a bit like corn! I don’t think that it tastes bad, however, feel free to add it to other teas to adjust the flavor. You can add fresh mint, or you can add it to any other kind of loose-leaf or bag tea that you make.

Frequently Asked Questions…

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Corn silk tea works fast! Five minutes after you drink it you’ll be visiting the potty. Then you’ll feel like you didn’t have a drink in two weeks so you’ll run to your kitchen and gulp down a big glass of water. It’s all good! This is exactly what it’s supposed to do. I hope that you’d give it a try!

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