We're back to some canned veggies today. When I looked at the label I naturally thought it was Japanese, since the brand name was of a Japanese cultural aspect, geishas. However, the actual corn came from Thailand. Which should explain the title of this post. Also, it wasn't regular, "adult" corn, but baby corn instead.
I know I often complain that a particular manufacturing company doesn't include any history about themselves on their official websites, leaving me only other, non-official online sources, or sometimes, nothing of consequence. But today's topic is a little different, in that there is some admittedly detailed information, but at the same time other important data is missing. So there we are. The label on the can I bought notes that Geisha is "a tradition of quality since 1912." More specifically, the website mentions that the Japanese Nozaki Bros. & Ltd. company started selling fresh lobster via mail order to buyers in Boston and Chicago in the U.S. in 1911. In the following year they registered the trademark "Geisha" as a brand. By 1929 Geisha also starting marketing canned oranges to American customers, and in 1930 canned tuna. Alas, politics and war made a mark on the company. In 1943, in the depths of World War II, the Geisha brand was confiscated by the Bureau of Enemy Property, and the American wing of Nozaki Bros. was forced to close. Then, after the war's end, in 1948, Nozaki was allowed to resume some private trading in the U.S., but had to pay royalties to use their former Geisha brand name. Then, in 1963 the Geisha brand was finally returned to Nozaki completely. Although it took until 1984 for all of the company's books and records to be returned to Nozaki. Back to food details, in 1971 Geisha began selling frozen seafood, and then in 1989 they began marketing canned vegetables. However, at some unspecified point Nozaki was evidently bought out by another Japanese company, Kawasho Foods. Since Kawasho started in 2004, it was therefore somewhat recently. Anyway, Kawasho also sells foods in Malaysia using the brand name King Cup, and sells beer in Korea under the Prime Draft label. Kawasho's current President is Yasunori Hayashi. One final tidbit--a non-official website claims that Geisha was actually founded in 1893. So if this is true the 1912 date may only be for exporting to the U.S., and Nozaki's true founding date would then be at least 19 years earlier. Aside from baby corn Geisha's products include canned seafood (such as crab meat, shrimp, scallops, and octopus), canned fruit (including oranges, pineapples, and fruit salad), canned vegetables (like mushrooms, water chestnuts, and bamboo), and other assorted wares, such as wasabi peas, tofu stew, and sesame oils. Additionally, in the future they will be selling a line of non-meat, pseudo tuna, named tuuna to differentiate it.
As I learned, baby corn itself is kind of what the name implies. It's corn that's been harvested a bit early, with tiny little kernels and a soft, edible cob. Some baby corn is just from regular corn species, and sometimes it's species specifically intended to be harvested early. Or, put another way, for the former some individual corn cobs are harvested early, while others are allowed to mature, while for the latter pretty much the whole crop is taken early, and none are left to become adult cobs. Baby corn is typically eaten whole, cobs and all, either raw or cooked. It's a common component of stir fries, for example. An average baby corn measures about 4.5 cm. to 10 cm. (or about 2 inches to 4 inches) in length. Most versions tend to be yellow in color, but some are white, blue, or even pink.
Geisha whole baby corn: The individual pieces were yellow, and looked like smaller versions of regular corn. Little to no odor. They were about 10 cm. (about 4 inches), in length, with correspondingly tiny kernels. I tried them in several different ways. I should also preface this by saying I'm not a big fan of corn in general, dating back to a childhood incident when I got violently sick after eating some. (It was a coincidence, and not a food allergy or anything.) In short, I like some corn-based foods, such as corn chips, taco shells, or corn bread, but not corn on the cob, or removed corn kernels.
plain: Just okay. The fact that I could even eat these was actually a bit of an endorsement for baby corn, as I got into above. Overall they were chewy, but bland.
With Smart Ones Santa Fe rice and beans microwaved frozen meal: Better with the meal's sauce, and the beans and rice. Still rather crunchy. A decent pairing.
With Smart Ones mini rigatoni with vodka cream sauce microwaved frozen meal: Better than I thought it would be, but still kind of weird. Strange texture pairing, with the soft pasta and crunchy corn. Plus the flavor pairing didn't work as well as the rice and beans meal.
With Smart Ones 3 cheese ziti marinara microwaved frozen meal: Kind of similar, crunchy. Alright, but I wouldn't really miss the baby corn if it was absent. It's still clearly better than adult corn, but far from great or anything.
With various Japanese/Chinese dishes: Over the decades I've had baby corn in many meals served professionally, usually with rice, water chestnuts, onions, broccoli, chicken, lobster, etc., often topped with a brown, soy-based sauce. Obviously these meals (I hope!) didn't use a canned baby corn brand like Geisha, but presumably fresh baby corn. I include it to give a more complete view of my opinions on baby corn in general. In this mix the baby corn works out decently, as it is paired nicely with the other vegetables and meat.
In summation, ultimately, baby corn in my opinion is superior to adult, regular corn, but still is kind of "meh," average at best. It's okay mixed in with some other veggies and/or meat dishes, but I can't say I'd really miss it that much if it wasn't included. Therefore, if you like adult corn in general, and baby corn specifically, Geisha baby corn will probably be an acceptable and okay version. Not as good as fresh, presumably, but a decent sample. But if you're not a fan of regular or baby corn otherwise, I don't think it will drastically change your mind on the subject. That said, I would be willing to try other Geisha foods--especially if they're of foods I've historically enjoyed before.
Finally, like most Americans over the age of 40, whenever I hear about baby corn I invariably think about the funny scene from the 1988 movie "Big," wherein Tom Hanks's character is confused by his first encounter with it at a fancy dinner party, and ridiculously only eats the miniscule kernels off of the tiny cobs.
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