When people find out I grow organic fruit and veg, they say, "Oh, it must be wonderful to have all that lovely delicious-tasting fresh produce to eat". Most of the time they are on the mark: I am currently enjoying a heavy crop of yellow and red tomatoes: the red cherry tomatoes are particularly delicious.
But it's not always the case. I was away in Scotland for the first two weeks of September, and on my return the sweetcorn plants I had lovingly cultivated from seed were looking a little dessicated. The cobs looked ok, but when I carried out a ripeness test - sticking a fingernail into a corn kernel and seeing if the resulting juice was clear (not ripe enough), milky but not thick (ripe), or milky and viscuous (over the hill), the answer was the latter. While I was away dessicating winds and the passage of time had rendered my corn cobs about as tasty as a roll of carpet underlay. My dinner guests and I bravely chomped through a few mouthfuls before returning the cobs to our plate in disappointment.
Seasonality is everything with corn. Not so with marrows and squash. I currently have a fine collection of both kicking their heels in my garage - hung in some old tights to facilitate air flow and ensure they don't rot. It's going to be squash-a-go-go in my kitchen this autumn.
Why is it that the tastiest crops are the first to go? Well done, you, for at least conducting a taste test.
Posted by: Patricia Tryon | September 22, 2004 at 05:44 PM