50+ Lifestyles

Enjoy Sweet Corn Season This Summer with Some Practical Tips

By Dan Fillius
Iowa State University
Commercial Vegetable and Specialty Crop Specialist

The middle of summer is officially here and so is sweet corn season. With the unusual weather events this year, Iowans can still expect to see an abundance of their favorite sweet corn variety.

When is sweet corn the best?

In most years, Iowans can buy local sweet corn from roadside stands before it is available in stores. Sweetcorn being sold from the back of a truck bed has most likely been picked that same morning – making it exceptionally fresh and the best for supper that night!

When choosing your corn from the grocery store, the question of when it was picked is more complex. The kind of sweet corn available at grocery stores is either picked fresh daily with a new delivery every day from a local Iowa farm, or it is a supersweet variety that is going to hold its value for a week to 10 days.

When should I harvest sweet corn?

Sweet corn should be harvested at the milk stage. At this stage, the silks are brown and dry at the ear tip. When punctured with a thumbnail, the soft kernels produce a milky juice.

Overmature sweet corn is tough and doughy. An immature ear is not filled to the tip, and the kernels produce a clear, watery liquid when punctured.

How to keep your sweet corn fresh?

To prolong the life of your sweet corn, make sure to keep your ears cold and stored in the refrigerator. If your sweet corn is warm, the sugar is going to degrade faster, and the taste will not be as fresh. Also, be on the lookout for corn earworm. While you may be tempted to discard ears that have obvious worm damage, early season sweet corn this year is likely to have more worms than usual. Fillius said that Iowa farmers struggled with ear worm and other pests this year because of the unusual amount of rain and heat. Ears of sweet corn.

Remember Peaches and Cream?

Peaches and Cream is a common marketing term for bicolor sweet corn describing the yellow and white kernels. There used to be a popular variety named ‘Peaches and Cream’ that was grown and very popular, but it is not grown as much anymore.

Most of Iowa’s sweet corn today is not truly ‘Peaches and Cream,’ but rather this evocative term has turned into a local understanding of the sweetness one finds in delicious, bicolor Iowa sweet corn.

Dan Fillius is Iowa State University Commercial Vegetable and Specialty Crop Specialist. He can be reached at 515-294-4249 or fillius@iastate.edu.