"Janet Galpin" wrote in message
...
The message
from Martin Brown contains these
words:

In message , Joanne
writes
I understand that sweetcorn should be harvested when the juices
are milky,
and when the stringy bits on top are brown and dry. However, my
corns' bits
are stringy and dry but the cobs are still very small.

So, do I wait until the cobs are larger, or do I harvest now?

It has been such a poor summer that it isn't too surprising they
are
struggling a bit. I'd guess they are still not yet ripe even if
the
strings are dry. Mine usually come ripe around the end of
September.

Poor pollination might also be a factor if the cobs are short of
grains.

You could always pull a couple and see how well they cook. Fresh
produce
just off the plant always tastes sweeter...

My cobs are also well smaller than usual but I have been eating them
for
the last two weeks and they are excellent - just small. In fact I
now
have one or two which are what I assume to be over-ripe (though I
now
realise from the rest of the thread that ripeness is more
complicated
than I was thinking) in that the grains are caving in slightly - or
is
that just lack of water?
I would definitely try a cob.

If it is still soft enough to get your teeth to do damage to it, you
will be eating a cob at its very best. Do make sure you eat it with
vast quantities of butter.

Franz