Buying sweet corn in the summer!

[Bobberman]

Corn in my area is around $5 a dozen almost everywhere. It will drop to $4 by the end of august! Today I was a Wal mart and thougt I would buy thee ears for a night snack! It was 27 cents a ear. i look for the younger more tender ones. I had 2 white and ome bi color. I thought they would not be that good and cooked them tonight and they were the best corn I had all summer. The bi color was the best but the white was very sweet!

[CharlieBear]

The commercial price of corn is why many people don't recommend home gardeners grow it unless they have a lot of space, that and the fact that is a heavy feeder. I know we don't, we just buy the few odd ears when they are on sale and use them right a way. Yes, bicolor is very good when it is fresh. White is generally sweeter then yellow sweet corn. A produce department buyer told me that you lift the corn up and if it is heavy for its size, then it is fresh and not dehydrated. Once you open it to look at it like many people do in the store you have about 2 hours to cook it before it starts really deteriorating. Have always gotten great corn since he showed me this trick.

[DoubleDogFarm]

The best corn is harvested out of your own garden with the water already boiling. If you drop one along the way, don't stop to pick it up.

Eric

[TZ -OH6]

The sugar to starch conversion is pretty drastic after picking. Half the sugar goes to starch within 24 hours at warm temps. So you screw yourself by picking it the day before the weekend cookout at the campground and tossing it in the car trunk.

http://expert.iasri.res.in/agridaksh/ht ... etcorn.htm

"Even if ears are picked at peak sugar content, quality decreases rapidly after picking because of loss of sugar. In 24 hours after picking, sugar content declines to 8 percent at 0°C and up to 52 percent at 30°C. Thus, it is difficult to pick sweet corn before it turns starchy and supply it to the consumer before sugar levels decline. "

That is probably why consumers like the new supersweet varieties while farmers and gardeners who eat them fresh often think they are too sweet.


Early season sweetcorn was affordable here, but now its 2 for $1 in the stores. I'm glad mine is almost ready.

[garden5]

TZ, I never knew that the sugar to starch conversion occurred so quickly! I'll have make it a habit to cook my corn as soon as I get it. Good tip.

[MaryDel]

TZ, I never knew that the sugar to starch conversion occurred so quickly! I'll have make it a habit to cook my corn as soon as I get it. Good tip.

With corn like Silver Queen, you want to cook it as soon as it's picked. Some of the new SUSE varieties will stay supersweet for a week in refrigeration. I just got back from camping for a week and was eating 'Argent' the whole trip. It was fantastic. I kept it on ice for 7 days. It was so good and so sweet , that it drew a very large black bear down into the campground dumpster . I saw the bear, and the next morning the huge tracks and my bag of sweetcorn garbage that he had been feeding on


I would never think of not eating SQ right when I picked it, but I'll eat Argent from the fridge for a few days rather than go out to the garden and pick more fresh. It's that good.

[TZ -OH6]

I just ate my first sweet corn from the garden, Ruby Queen and Deliciosa. Its odd that they are both ready because Deliciosa is supposed to be a little later. The flavor seemed to be off, possibly because I cooked it in the microwave wrapped in wet paper towel. I'll have to test that against boiling water.

[TheWaterbug]

What's the sugar to starch conversion like for SE corn if you leave it on the stalks?

i.e. If it's perfect today, but I'm not going to eat it for 3 days, do I pick and fridge it? Or leave it on the stalk? What about 5 days? 7? What's the magic cutoff?

[TheWaterbug]

I just got back from camping for a week and was eating 'Argent' the whole trip. It was fantastic. I kept it on ice for 7 days. It was so good and so sweet , that it drew a very large black bear down into the campground dumpster . I saw the bear, and the next morning the huge tracks and my bag of sweetcorn garbage that he had been feeding on

LOL! I just caught my cat dumpster-diving in my trash and dragging out corn cobs. (it was either Bi-Licious or Delectable, both SE varieties).

How do you keep corn on ice for 7 days while camping?

[Moley]

Don't microwave corn unless you want popped corn, yes it is a quick way to cook it, but you are killing the texture and in some cases the flavor.

[MaryDel]

Waterbug,

I just pack the corn in a large cooler and keep it iced down well. I always loved eating sweetcorn while sitting around the campfire at night.......probably memories of my father doing it when I was a small boy.....


I make a lot of new friends in the campgrounds too, because I always have enough for my neighbors. They are always disappointed when they ask me where I bought it

[MaryDel]

Don't microwave corn unless you want popped corn, yes it is a quick way to cook it, but you are killing the texture and in some cases the flavor.

How untrue. I've never had even one kernal of sweetcorn explode in the microwave, and microwaved corn is more flavorful. Why do you think the water poured out of a pot after boiling corn is yellow and smells like sweetcorn.


It sounds to me like you have never even tried it

[TZ -OH6]

I would say to leave it on the plant as long as you can. On the plant it will slowly progress through its maturation process. Cutting it off from the plant by picking it flips some sort of switch telling it to make starch out of its sugars immediately. When it starts to get starchy on the plant I would pick it all, eat what you can and for the rest blanch it in boiling water for one minute, cut it from the cob and freeze it for later.

jal_ut has a nice pictoral post of prepping sweetcorn for freezing.

[TheWaterbug]

^^
Thanks!

So how long does everyone here boil theirs for? I boil for 3 minutes.

[soil]

i don't even cook my corn for the most part anymore, i just eat it right in the patch. its the best.