Cornsilk has often been used as a tea, but also in a powder, or ointment mixed with corn oil for external applications. It has also been used as a flavor component for some major food products and face powders. In Mexico the silky filaments just inside the husk are sold in bulk to anyone desiring safe nutrients for the urinary system. Most of us despise these little strings without realizing that on a fresh ear of corn they are sweet and easy to chew. In folklore they are used to benefit the kidney and bladder.
Cornsilk is effective either fresh or dried.
Laboratory analysis reveals high amounts of silicon, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus minerals in cornsilk. Along with chlorophyll, resin and a fixed oil, maizenic acid is the active principle in cornsilk. Vitamin K is used by the body's mechanism that controls bleeding. Cornsilk is well established as safe and effective. Sources -Back to Eden, Jethro Kloss, Lifeline Bks, Santa Barbara, Calif., 1974.