August is upon us in the beautiful state of Minnesota, which means we are in the final lap of summer break. This time of year always seems to fly by as we soak up the remaining weeks before another year of school begins. The days are still deliciously warm, the sunlight doesn’t wean until well past 8 pm, and I relish summer activities with my girls. In all honesty, August is typically the month in which I bury my head in the sand and pretend autumn and back to school isn’t looming around the corner. Each season and stage of life has it’s beauty, but there’s just something about summer break that feels like a favorite lounging chair with a good book.

There is always a highlight to the end of August in the Twin Cities, and that is the Great Minnesota Get Together, our State Fair. People travel from all across the Midwest to attend – and the sights, activities and food are no small offering! From Sweet Martha’s Cookies to anything on a stick, everyone I know has a favorite staple of which they can’t visit the fair without consuming.

For me, it’s the corn on the cob booth. The smell of fire roasted corn, still in their husks mixed with tubs of melted butter is unmistakable. There’s bits of burnt husk flying around in the breeze and people young and old nibbling at the cobs with butter dripping down their arms. It’s a 10 plus napkin kind of snack, and it brings me fond memories of when I was a teenager snacking at the fair with my family.

This recipe is an homage to said food stand at the Great Minnesota Get Together. It’s incredibly simple to make, and celebrates the freshest produce of summer with locally grown corn and herbs from my garden. Albeit you can make this year round, nothing compares to a sublimely fresh piece of produce in the peak of it’s harvest season. Recipe yields 6 ears of corn – but there is enough herb butter for 12. I used the remaining half of my herb butter the following week tossed with a gluten free pasta and sautéed vegetables, which left me equally satisfied.

There are a bunch of really talented bloggers who have created copycat recipes from the Great Minnesota Get Together, and we’ve teamed up to share them with you in a recipe round up!

Below are the links to these recipes:

Vegan Nachos: Kelly & Dustin with Dining Duster
Watermelon Kombucha Slushie: Sharon with The Honour System
Breakfast Pronto Pups: Janel with Nellie Bellie
Fried Pickles with Sriracha Ranch Dip: Greta with Pickles Travel Blog
Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donuts: Lane & Holly with With Two Spoons
State Fair Cookies: Alice with Dining with Alice
Corn fritters + maple butter: Haley with Cheap Recipe Blog

What’s your favorite part of your local State Fair? I’d love to hear!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 6 stalks of locally grown organic corn, still in their husks
• 1 stick organic butter at room temp
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
• salt + pepper to taste

Method:

1. Place the room temperature butter in a bowl and add in the freshly diced herbs. Stir until well combined. You can leave the butter at room temp for coating each cob, or make the butter in advance and store in the fridge. To store, wrap and roll in parchment paper and store up to 1 week. (see photo)
2. Peel back the corn husks halfway to remove the silk from the cobs, enclosing each cob with the husk once removed. You want each cob to be covered as much as possible to protect them from burning.
3. Place the cobs with their husks repositioned in an ice water bath for 30 minutes to ensure they don’t start on fire during the grilling process.
4. Preheat your gas grill to medium heat.
5. Gently dry off the excess water from the cobs and place them on the grill, directly over the fire,
6. Rotate each cob every 5 minutes for a total cook time of 15-20 minutes. Remove from grill.
7. Peel back the husks and generously spread each cob with the herb butter. Finish with salt and pepper + enjoy!