Sunday 11 October 2015

When is sweet corn ready to harvest?


I found this tricky. I think I only got it right once (on 30 August) and at the time I thought I was getting it wrong. So, things to look out far are when the tufts go brown like this:
This is not ripe enough:

Also, you should pinch the ends like this while they're still on the plant:
If you can pinch it pretty much together a long way down, there's hardly any ripe sweet corn in it yet. If you can only go a little way down like this, you're good to go. I harvested it at this point and it was delicious. It had a little bit at the top that hadn't quite ripened yet (or at least, that's what it looked like to me), which made me think I'd picked it too early, but actually the ones I definitely picked too late, as they were starchy and rather chewy, also had those bits at the end. I don't know if it was the variety I chose or the weather/(lack of) sunshine in my garden, but none of them ever got full corns further than that.
Still, there was plenty that was ripe and they tasted delicious.

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