Corn on the cob: sweet as ...

The key to harvesting is picking the optimum moment - for no crop is this truer than sweetcorn.

I've grown corn several years in a row, and it's always been a huge disappointment: unfortunately we've always been on holiday in late August/early September when the ears are at their prime, only to get back to kernels like cardboard.

This year, the arrival of our tiny person has meant our usual late summer jaunt hasn't taken place. It's a shame, but it has meant that - hallelujah! - the corn could be harvested at just the right moment. This year we took a shortcut and bought young plug plants to put on the allotment, but I was heavily pregnant at sowing time and just didn't have the time or energy to grow everything I'd planned. No idea even what variety these are, but they taste beautifully sweet and juicy.

The key with corn is getting it from plot to plate in the minimum time to ensure that the sugars have as little time as possible to turn to starch, resulting in a cob that's supersweet. The ultimate is taking a little camping stove down to the plot and cooking them there and then, or you could chuck them on a barbie.

How's your corn doing this year? Do share in the comments below.

Comments

[Carol]

I agree, the secret to sweet corn is to cook it as soon as you pick it. The other secret to corn is to grow enough of it to get good pollination. I had a few small ears from my garden, but they were sweet like candy.

[Matron]

I had heard it makes a difference which time of day you pick and eat the corn. Is it sweeter early in the morning?

[John]

I can't comment on how my sweetcorn tasted, as it was eaten by badgers. Apparently they get a lot of sweetcorn at our allotment. I did take the time and trouble to fence them off, but to no avail. Next year, bigger better fences.

[James]

All 4 plants ground to a halt at three feet high. They look like they're flowering now, but we've given up hope this year. Will return with reinforcements.

[Bill Lee]

and boil with a dash of sugar p as well.

Try a dash of salt in the water and you won't do that again.

It's all sugar chemistry.

Unfortunately Peaches-and-Cream is the sole variety of sweet corn sold in most shops in Vancouver.

[Jenny]

Ihave just harvested sweetcorn "sundance F1" it is absolutely great and I shall certainly grow it again- so many cobs I have spent the evening freezing some of them as could not possibly eat them all at once.

[Jane Perrone]

John: Never knew corn could fall prey to badgers!

Carol: I always grow at least a dozen plants and plant in a grid pattern to encourage pollination, which seems to work.

And thanks for suggesting freezing, Jenny, will have to give that a try.