A Trend in Sweet Corn?

I've been grocery shopping for frighteningly close to half a century, but only recently have I noticed Sweet Corn Shucking at my local stores.

In the olden days, (say three years ago) you might lift an eyebrow to see even modest peeking at sweet corn in the produce aisle. Only those who were really concerned shoppers might peel back an inch or two of green to check if the corn was fully developed. It was a reluctant defense mechanism due to farmers rushing their products to market before the proper harvest time.

Now however, people wantonly strip their corn right there in the store! Off come all the green leaves and even the silk before the naked ears get bagged it in plastic.

I noticed this disconcerting habit first at Michael's Market where they have an extensive array of vegetables I don't know how to cook, let alone pronounce. Michael's attracts customers with a wide range of ethnicities, many of whom look to be newish to this country. With maybe one driver in the group, whole families of multiple generations come on shopping trips, much like I remember from my own childhood when we had just one car and only my dad had a license.

I shop with efficiency. Certain stores for certain items. Coupons organized by my route through the store. In, out and back home again as quickly as possible. So it really threw a wrench in the works one day when "sweet corn" was on my list and the bin was so mobbed I couldn't even reach an arm in. And I have long arms.

The bin of corn was surrounded by women ruthlessly ripping husks from the corn. Each woman was accompanied by her man who was equipped with a plastic bag to receive the pathetically pale yellow ears, as well as her cart-full of squirming children, and often a grandparent. Green leaves overflowed from a huge garbage can onto the floor and corn silk was flying through the air.

I was a little taken aback, but chalked it up to learning something about different cultures, which is why I go to Michael's Market in the first place. Just a short time later, however, I ran into, quite literally, a big garbage can of corn husks in the Jewel produce aisle.

As always, Jewel's produce section was quiet and sedate. No one was frenziedly denuding the corn, but there it was: a newly-added garbage can filled with green leaves.

Since corn is purchased by the ear, not by weight or volume, I can't understand the need to shuck it before purchasing. Does this only happen in my grocery stores? I'd love to know what this trend's all about.