Vietnamese Corn Milk Sữa Bắp

This Vietnamese corn milk is an incredibly refreshing drink, lightly sweetened with condensed milk and full of corn flavor.

To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, I’m sharing a few recipes from Andrea Nguyen’s new cookbook Ever-Green Vietnamese. I’ve followed Andrea for years and appreciate how deeply researched her work is. The first recipe I’m sharing is her Vietnamese corn milk, or sữa bắp. I first discovered corn milk at one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants, Tu Thanh, which specializes in duck noodles. My boys always ask for the corn milk when we eat here. With Andrea’s recipe, I can make corn milk from spring until fall. The result is an incredibly refreshing drink lightly sweetened with condensed milk and full of corn flavor.

Ingredient Notes

• Corn: Pick corn with bright green husk, wrapped tightly against the corn and slightly damp. Avoid husk that looks yellow or feels dry. Look at the bottom of the corn where the ear was broken off the stalk. If this area is brown, the corn is not very fresh. Skip the corn that has a dry or black tassel (where the corn silks stick out of the husk), another sign of old corn. It’s important to use fresh, in-season, corn for this recipe to get the best flavor. I love the bicolor corns from Rodney Kiwano Farms known for their freshness and natural sweetness.
• Coconut: for this recipe use coconut cream, not coconut milk. The flavor you get from coconut cream is much richer. My favorite brands are Savoy and Aroy-d.

How to Make Corn Milk

• Shuck the corns. Save the silks and eight of inner pale green husks.
• Place the corn silks inside the husks, fold the husks over to enclose them, then tie the husks with a thin strip of husk or kitchen twine.
• Break the cobs in half. Stabilize the cob by standing the flat side on the cutting board. Trim off the corn kernels by firmly holding each ear of corn vertically and carefully slicing downwards with a sharp knife. 
• To make the corn milk, add the cobs, corn kernels, coconut cream, water, and salt to a large saucepan.
• Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle boil for 25 minutes.
• Remove from heat, discard the cobs and husk bundles. Let it cool for 15 minutes.
• Transfer the mixture to a high speed blender and blend for 2-3 minutes until creamy. If you have a small blender, do it into batches to avoid spilling.
• Pour the blended corn mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl or measuring cup. If the mixture is too thick, thin it out with ¼ cup of water in increment to your liking.
• Let it completely cool at room temperature for 1 hour then refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

How to Sweeten the Milk

Everyone's preference for sweetness is different. The corns that I used are inherently sweet so I add about a tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk right before serving. You can use honey or your preferred sweetener. Andrea's recipe calls for vanilla extract but I skipped it because I like the pure corn flavor.

Make Ahead and Storage

The corn milk can be made and stored in the fridge for up to a week.

For more refreshing beverages:

• Green Goodness Juice
• Vietnamese iced coffee
• Passion fruit mango mint lassi