Harvest 2011 - Sweet Corn

Tassels are parching. Silk is browning.  The sweet corn is starting to ripen. 

Since we planted successional crops, we should be eating sweet corn on a regular basis from now through September.  No complaints from me.

Glenn (6'2") harvesting sweet corn

Sweet corn is difficult to harvest; not in terms of actually picking the ears off the stalks, but in terms of determining its maturity.  Sweet corn is not forgiving.  The ears must be picked when the kernels are just mature, not under mature and not overly mature, otherwise; the corn taste is just OK, so-so.

I want my sweet corn to be perfect - firm, milky, sweet, melt-in-my mouth flavor with the added butter dripping down from the sides of my mouth as I methodically eat the rows of the golden kernels off the cob - that is the only way sweet corn should be eaten.

Mealy, over-mature - a treat for Ember or the buck sheep, but not for me!

The shucks are fed to the animals.  I have said it before, I will keep saying it, " Nothing goes to waste on the farm!"

If there is a surplus, and there will not be much this year;  the sweet corn is blanched on the cob, the kernels cut off and packaged into freezer bags.  No canning for this veggie; the flavor is lost. Come winter, eating this corn will be a bit like revisiting summer in January.

Fresh, tender sweet corn is, by far, my favorite vegetable.  Bring on the corn!