An empty U-Haul truck rattled for hours down twisting backroads in southeast Missouri to an Old Order Mennonite community of 25 families outside Fredericktown.
At the wheel was a vegetable broker on a secretive culinary mission. (St. Louis Public Radio and Harvest Public Media have agreed not to use his name in this story because he’s afraid of losing his day job.)
His prize: a handful of gnarled, infected corn ears that some St. Louisans are paying top dollar for…