9 Harvesting Tips For The Tastiest Corn
Corn, with its silky tassels and waves of green, is ripening on the stalk as we speak. With early yields enjoyed, mid and late-season plantings are nearly ready to burst in the husk. There’s a small window to harvest ears at their peak ripeness. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in exploring ways to extract corn for its optimal sweet flavor.
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Corn is versatile and varied, with different types, shapes, sizes, colors, and uses. Sweet corn is the most popular “eating” type, but some harvesting tips are helpful for ensuring the right texture and ripeness. Aside from this minor learning curve the crop is easy to grow with a sweet flavor that ranges in intensity.
Harvest times vary depending on variety and growing region. Flint corn has heritage and aesthetic values, while field, or dent corn, is for feed and products. Popcorn offers fun in color and, well, popping and is a novelty to grow at home. These types are picked at a different time than sweet varieties.
Picking juicy kernels at peak flavor is essential to maximizing sweetness, texture, and taste. If you’re growing this summer favorite for eating or popping this season, these 9 tips will help you harvest at the optimal time for the sweetest rewards.
Corn Basics
Corn, or maize, has ancestors in wild grasses that date back to 9,000 years. Ancient peoples in Central and South America began cultivating and sharing the crop, which became a dietary staple 4,000 or more years ago. Today, Zea mays is one of the most popular and productive crops worldwide.
While corn is sweet, delicious, and versatile, it has health benefits in its fresh (vegetable) or ground (grain) form. The juicy kernels have antioxidants, vitamins A and C, nutrients like magnesium and potassium, and dietary fiber.
Corn is an easy addition to the home vegetable garden, with measures to avoid common problems. Each stalk produces one upper ear and smaller secondary ears. For best pollination, grow the stalks in blocks rather than long, single rows. Corn grows well in raised beds, too.
Optimal growing conditions include:
- Full sun (6+ hours of sunlight daily)
- Well-draining, fertile soils
- Soil pH near 6.0-6.5
- Warm days and nights
- One to two inches of water per week (rainfall and irrigation)
Time the Harvest
There’s a small window to harvest corn for maximum sweetness. Count the days from your transplanting date to get a jumpstart on knowing when to harvest. This will be on the seed packet as “days to maturity.” Ears usually mature in 60 to 100 days, depending on the selection and weather.
In real-time, the key indicator for corn readiness is the silks. Silks are threadlike tassels that appear on the tips of the ears. When these turn brown, allow two to three weeks for the ears to be fully mature. In hot weather, they may be ready about 15 days out from when silks brown. Some varieties take up to 22 days to fully develop from this point. Husks and stalks remain green when silks turn brown and kernels get closer to ripening.
Stagger Planting Times
Enjoy more cobs with successional plantings. An early, mid, and late round of kernel sowing allows ready vegetables throughout the season. Since stalks produce all at once (or within the same timeframe), staggering the planting time yields multiple harvests. Plant a few rounds of the same variety or use different cultivars suited to early, mid, and late-season harvests.
If you’re growing more than one variety, keep in mind that corn is open-pollinated. Wind and insects travel between stalks, and the subsequent pollination alters the produce between selections. Your white corn may become yellow, or the flavor may not be as sweet.
Remedy the muddling of the genetic traits by isolating crops 250 feet apart or staggering planting and maturity times. The first option requires a lot of space and isn’t often practical in the home garden. The second one, staggering developing ears, is doable by planting one selection earlier than another or opting for early, mid, and late-season distinctions. Allow 14 days between mature yields to prevent cross-pollination.
Pick in the “Milk Stage”
Kernels go through developmental stages, including pre-milk, milk, early dough, and dough. At the dough stage, kernels are overripe, tough, and dry. With pre-milk, the juice is clear and not as sweet. The Goldilocks of corn harvests is in the milk stage, and we have several tips for recognizing this stage.
As silks brown and days pass, take a sneak peek at upper ears to check for readiness. Peel back the husk slightly and poke a kernel. If the juice is milky white, the harvest is ready. Lower, secondary ears are usually ready within a day or two following upper ears.
The milk stage doesn’t last long, and it is weather-dependent. Picking too early or late doesn’t render the ears inedible, but the optimal flavor is in the literal sweet spot stage. In temperatures above 85°F (29°C), the milk phase may last only a day or two. Warm weather accelerates development.
Harvest in the Morning
It’s best to pick ready ears early in the day before the sun warms the kernels. Once picked, sugars begin converting to starches, and heat hastens the process. The conversion results in a less sweet flavor the further out from picking. Extra-sweet and super-sweet cultivars remain sweeter for longer.
To pluck the ready ear from the stalk, pull it downward, husk and all. Give it a twist to snap it loose from the stem. Chill the fresh picks promptly. Refrigerating soon after the harvest slows the sugar-to-starch turnover. This delays the reduction in flavor for up to a week.
Check Regularly
Since readiness happens quickly once ears enter the pre-milk stage, checking the crop every day or two is helpful. Upper ears develop first, secondary follow closely behind, and all are generally within days of each other.
Look for filled-out tips as ears are ready to harvest. They’ll have kernels all around the top. Ears will be tender.
Pick Baby Corn Early
Did you know baby corn is usually just immature sweet corn? While miniature varieties exist for their delicacy and unique size, harvesting common sweet varieties as young cobs works for petite selections.
To try your own mini corns, pick the vegetables when they emerge among fresh silks. They’ll be two to four inches long and just ⅓ to ⅔ inches around. If nothing else, they’ll be the cutest corns on the block.
Hold the Popcorn
For popcorn types, leave the ears to dry on the stalk. Husks will brown. About four to six weeks after the silks turn, check the kernels. They’re ready to harvest when hard and dry.
To harvest, remove the dry ears from the stalk. Remove the husks and arrange them in a mesh bag for further drying. Hang them in a warm, dark spot to continue drying.
Try a few kernels for popping. If they pop successfully, manually skim the rest of the seeds from the cobs. Store them in jars or other airtight containers for up to four years. If they don’t pop after storage, cover kernels with water and shake occasionally over a few days. Try them again, and repeat re-hydrating if not successful.
Store the Bounty
This may not be a harvest tip, but it is a crucial corn storage tip! Once picked, refrigerate for preservation or freeze the excess bounty. Freezing the kernels brings a welcome addition to winter soups and stews.
Flash-freezing is quick and easy. Wash and cut kernels off of the cob. Scatter them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for a few hours. Once completely frozen, transfer the kernels to a freezer bag or airtight container to freeze the lot. The texture will differ from fresh kernels; they’ll be slightly chewier and less plump.
Blanching first yields the best preservation. Blanching is necessary to stop enzymes that deteriorate flavor, texture, and color. Place the cobs in boiling water for two to three minutes, followed by a dip in an ice bath to cool. Cut off the kernels, and follow the flash-freezing steps.
Alternatively, cover the kernels with water in an airtight container and freeze them as ice cubes for up to 10 months.
