Sweet Corn - All You Need To Know
(continued - page 3)
Harvesting Sweet Corn
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The sweet corn can be tested for ripeness by pressing a
kernel with your fingernail - if they are ripe, this will show a
creamy coloured liquid from inside the kernel. If the liquid is
watery, the sweet corn needs more time to ripen; if the liquid
is almost like dough, the sweet corn is over-ripe. Start this
testing when the silks (long silky threads which grow out of the
cobs) turn brown and start to shrivel. |
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Cook sweet corn as soon as possible after picking to keep that sweet taste.
Remove the foliage, and cook for 7 minutes in boiling water. Sweet corn can also
be cooked on the barbeque - cover the cob in foil and put it on the barbeque
grill for 10 minutes or so. It is safe to put all sweet corn foliage on the compost
heap, although after eating, the remaining part of the cob will
compost much more easily if cut into several parts. |
Garden fresh sweet corn has an amazing flavour. Freshly picked and then
barbecued preserves that taste best.
Click here
for our barbecued sweet corn recipe with full instructions and lots of step by
step pictures.Pests and Diseases
Sweet corn are remarkably free from pests and diseases, and you
are unlikely to have any problems in this area. The most likely
disease is 'Smut', though in the cooler climates it is rare. Smut is
a fungal disease, identified by green or white growths on any
part of the plant. There is no cure.
Which Variety
Sweet corn comes in three varieties - early, middle and late.
Forget the late varieties in the cooler climates. In the less sunny
areas of the UK, stick to the early varieties, sunny areas
should be safe with both early and middle varieties.
Click
through to the next page for a table of recommended varieties.
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