It's not that easy to find the right time to harvest corn. If you wait too long, the grains will harden and become unpalatable - provided, of course, the birds that live in every garden have not yet eaten them.
The right time to harvest sweet corn
Sweetcorn or vegetable corn is harvested when it is milk-ripe. At this point, the grains are not quite ripe, which is not desirable. Really mature corn has hard kernels that are inedible when raw. You can determine the optimal degree of ripeness for human consumption by scratching a corn kernel with a fingernail. If the whitish sap comes out, the corn is ready to be picked.
Ready for harvest between July and September
The tufts that are still from the flowers at the end of the cob give you another clue. As soon as these turn brown and dry up, the corn can be harvested. Depending on the variety, location, weather and planting date, you can look forward to fresh corn between July and September, with the peak season for corn being in the hot month of August. If you want to harvest corn, simply break or cut off the cobs together with the surrounding leaves. Please note that not all cobs mature at the same time.
How to properly store fresh corn
Fresh corn tastes best when eaten immediately or shortly after harvest. But this is usually not possible for larger quantities. Sweetcorn stays fresh in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator for about a week. However, you can also blanch both the cobs and grains in boiling water for two to three minutes and then place them in a freezer bag in the freezer. There, the corn from our own production lasts for several weeks.
Ripen the popcorn corn and let it dry
On the other hand, you choose a different procedure than the one described for popcorn. In contrast to vegetable corn, this has to ripen on the cob until the grains are hard. Cover the corn plants with a protective net, otherwise the birds will feast on your corn crop. After harvesting, cut the kernels from the cob and then air-dry them for a few days to weeks (depending on the variety).
Some delicious ideas for eating fresh corn
- Baby corn: enjoy unripe corn cobs about 10 centimeters long fresh or pickle them sweet and sour
- Grill freshly picked sweetcorn and enjoy with herb butter
- Boil fresh corn in lightly sugared water and eat with butter and salt
- simply nibble off fresh cobs raw
tips and tricks
Eat freshly harvested corn as soon as possible. The sugar contained in the kernels turns into starch during storage, so that corn kernels that have been stored for a long time no longer taste as sweet and crunchy.