We often discard corn silk, and it's treated as waste. When I was a kid, I collected corn silk whenever I saw someone peeling fresh corn and played masak-masak with it. It's like playing with hair! Absolutely fun and environmentally friendly. LOL!
I saw this recipe years ago, it reminded me that I've seen corn silk sold at Cameron Highlands, and the store owner told me it's good for the kidneys. I've also read about it saying it's diuretic and good for people with water retention. According to Baike.com, it's good for edema, hypertension, diabetes, jaundice, gallstones and it's also good for lactation purposes. Benefits of corn silk can also be found on WebMD. And it could also help with fat reduction, as said in this research paper.