Stainless-Steel Corn Cutter and Creamer

J.B. Lee, a Texan, invented this type of corn cutter in 1939. Since then, about 5 million of them have been sold. While J.B.'s cutter had a wooden body, ours is stainless steel except for the ABS-plastic end caps, which let the user cut over a bowl in a sink without scratching the sink. For smaller quantities, users regularly use a casserole dish with the end cap against the backsplash of the counter to resist the cutting force.

For whole kernels, the adjustable cutting blade is set at a height to cut the entire kernel from the cob. For creamed corn, the blade is set to cut off just the caps of the kernels. With the shredder guard removed from behind the blade, a number of small teeth make vertical cuts in the rest of the kernels; a scraper blade then extracts the kernel contents and strips the juice from the cob, leaving the kernel jackets attached. Since many people have never heard of this sort of creamed corn, a number of recipes that use it are included.

The corn cutter measures 18" × 2" × 1/2" (46cm × 5cm × 1.3cm) and comes in a sturdy cardboard storage box with full instructions and in-use photos.