Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

Books tell me various things but I still don't know.

Peel back the leaves and look at the colour - okay but I don't have enough
to spoil it by looking.

Stick your finger nail in and see if the juice is milky - as above

Wait until the tassels are brown - just wrong afaics

Any other methods? One book says the time of picking is critical for
sweetness.

Tim w

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

"Tim W" wrote
Books tell me various things but I still don't know.

Peel back the leaves and look at the colour - okay but I don't have enough
to spoil it by looking.

Stick your finger nail in and see if the juice is milky - as above

Wait until the tassels are brown - just wrong afaics

Any other methods? One book says the time of picking is critical for
sweetness.

The middle one.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

Well Tim, I've just picked some sweetcorn today doing exactly what the book
says and, in fact, what you said.

The first thing is to look at the 'tassels' (normally called the 'silks'),
which are the long silk-like threads growing out of the end of the cob. If
these are dark brown and have started to shrivel, take the next step. You
can always compare the silks of the ones you think are ripe with those cobs
that you're sure aren't. It really isn't difficult.

Having selected one cob you believe is ready, peel back just enough of the
end of one leaf to enable you to dig a fingernail into a kernal. If the
'ear' or 'cob' is ripe, the liquid that comes out of the kernal will be of a
creamy/colour - rather like milk.

If the sweetcorn is not ripe, the liquid will look and be watery. When
over-ripe, the liquid will be thick and more like dough. As I said, it
really is not difficult.

You don't have to strip all the leaves off a 'cob' to check for ripeness but
just enough to test one kernal - and you only do this when the silks are as
I described earlier.

I picked some ears of corn at about 4 o.clock this afternoon, judging the
ripeness as above, and we had them cooked for dinner at about 6 o'clock this
evening, with lashings of butter. They were delicious!

I still have twenty-four sweetcorn plants growing, most (if not all) with
two ears on them, so am looking forward to more in the next few days! And
they freeze so well.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

John




"Tim W" wrote in message
...
Books tell me various things but I still don't know.

Peel back the leaves and look at the colour - okay but I don't have enough
to spoil it by looking.

Stick your finger nail in and see if the juice is milky - as above

Wait until the tassels are brown - just wrong afaics

Any other methods? One book says the time of picking is critical for
sweetness.

Tim w

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

"Tim W" wrote in message
Books tell me various things but I still don't know.

Peel back the leaves and look at the colour - okay but I don't have enough
to spoil it by looking.

Not a good indication.

Stick your finger nail in and see if the juice is milky - as above

Yep.

Wait until the tassels are brown - just wrong afaics

Not the tassels. If the tassels are brown your corn will be soo far gone
even the poultry will have trouble eating it. Perhaps you meant to write
the silks? The silks on the cob should be brown but reasonably newly so.
Don't leave the cobs for long after the silk has gone brown or the corn will
become overripe.

Any other methods? One book says the time of picking is critical for
sweetness.

Yes as is the time from the garden to the pot. The normal advice is to have
the pot of water boiling as you pick the cobs.

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

In reply to FarmI (ask@itshall be given) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say
:

"Tim W" wrote in message
Books tell me various things but I still don't know.

Peel back the leaves and look at the colour - okay but I don't have
enough to spoil it by looking.

Not a good indication.

Stick your finger nail in and see if the juice is milky - as above

Yep.

Wait until the tassels are brown - just wrong afaics

Not the tassels. If the tassels are brown your corn will be soo far
gone even the poultry will have trouble eating it. Perhaps you meant
to write the silks? The silks on the cob should be brown but
reasonably newly so. Don't leave the cobs for long after the silk has
gone brown or the corn will become overripe.

Any other methods? One book says the time of picking is critical for
sweetness.

Yes as is the time from the garden to the pot. The normal advice is
to have the pot of water boiling as you pick the cobs.

I thought that too. Tassels are the pollinating bits (and apparently the
correct word *is* tassel), whereas (I'm starting to sound like a bl**dy
lawyer) the silks are the other end.

What do I know, apart from what the bits are called?

I had one from someone last week and had it, microwaved, without any pepper
and butter. It was ace. I have decided that if the corns are really any good
they don't need anything at all on them.

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
Not the tassels. If the tassels are brown your corn will be soo far gone
even the poultry will have trouble eating it. Perhaps you meant to write
the silks? The silks on the cob should be brown but reasonably newly so.

Does this also apply to baby sweetcorn varieties?

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

"John Vanini" wrote in message
...
Well Tim, I've just picked some sweetcorn today doing exactly what the
book says and, in fact, what you said.

The first thing is to look at the 'tassels' (normally called the 'silks'),
which are the long silk-like threads growing out of the end of the cob. If
these are dark brown and have started to shrivel, take the next step. You
can always compare the silks of the ones you think are ripe with those
cobs that you're sure aren't. It really isn't difficult.

Having selected one cob you believe is ready, peel back just enough of the
end of one leaf to enable you to dig a fingernail into a kernal. If the
'ear' or 'cob' is ripe, the liquid that comes out of the kernal will be of
a creamy/colour - rather like milk.

If the sweetcorn is not ripe, the liquid will look and be watery. When
over-ripe, the liquid will be thick and more like dough. As I said, it
really is not difficult.

You don't have to strip all the leaves off a 'cob' to check for ripeness
but just enough to test one kernal - and you only do this when the silks
are as I described earlier.

I picked some ears of corn at about 4 o.clock this afternoon, judging the
ripeness as above, and we had them cooked for dinner at about 6 o'clock
this evening, with lashings of butter. They were delicious!

I still have twenty-four sweetcorn plants growing, most (if not all) with
two ears on them, so am looking forward to more in the next few days! And
they freeze so well.


Thanks for that. I had been worried since earwigs had got into one I had
opened a bit to examine.

They are indeed fantastic veg. One of those that is way superior to what you
can buy. Twenty years ago I lived briefly in the Andes - real maize country
and I remember how fantastic the corn was there, the variety and the taste
and the freshness. Now I have it in my garden. Joy.

Tim w

Sweetcorn - How do you know if it is ripe?
 

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message

I had one from someone last week and had it, microwaved, without any
pepper and butter. It was ace. I have decided that if the corns are really
any good they don't need anything at all on them.

They are also delicious raw if you eat it as you take it off the plant.