All About Sweet Corn Season...

This year, more than any other, we've had a lot of questions about the sweet corn.  I thought I'd try to answer them all here in one spot, for my reference as much as anyone else.  :-)

What Is The Difference Between Yellow & Bicolor?

We plant two variety of seed - a yellow, appropriately named "Incredible", and a bicolor, which is usually refereed to as Butter and Sugar.

Dan's family has been planting the Incredible brand for may years, and we have planted it every year since we've moved here in 2004.  It is hands down my favorite.  It's non GMO, because the brand is so old it was before gmo was really a thing.

The Butter and Sugar is expensive to plant.  The seed is very expensive, the corn is often buggier, and it just doesn't grow as well.  And then, in my opinion, it's really not any better than the plain yellow that I love...  but most customers want butter and sugar, because they are used to that being a sweeter corn, (Try the Incredible we plant - just try it.  Although my sister in law, who grew up here, still prefers the butter and sugar....) so we plant this variety every year as well. The bi-color that we plant is a triple sweet variety called Serendipity.

We typically sell by the 100, although we will do "special orders" for less.  In past years, it was about 100 ears that fit in one feed bag.  This year we have smaller feed bags, we've been buying our feed from Norms Farm Store, and his bags are smaller.  So this year it's 50 ears in each bag, which is really much easier to lift into vehicles anyway.  Yes, we will sell 50 yellow and 50 butter and sugar as 100 ears - we do that any time we are asked, as long as both are ready at the same time.

When Will It Be Ready?
This year the sweet corn was ready very late - weeks later than normal.  That's because of the super wet spring we had - it was simply planted late.  We try to stagger the planting so that it does not all come on at once.  This year the yellow was ready one week before the butter and sugar.  Usually it comes on for about two weeks once it starts..  so this year it was a week of yellow, a week of yellow and butter and sugar, and then a week of butter and sugar.  So this year we have corn available for three weeks.  That varies each year, depending on the weather.  We've had years where we planted the two varieties weeks apart, and yet it all came on at the exact same time.  Unfortunately, we can't guarantee corn will be ready the day you have free to do it.

How Much Corn Is 100 Ears?

How many quarts can you get from 100 ears?  Oh, that depends.  How much are you putting in each bag?  I usually use a 1/2 cup scoop and put 4 heaping scoops in each bag.  It works out to roughly 3 cups in each bag.  Most people fill them a bit fuller and have closer to 4 cups per a bag.

Then it will depend on how full the ears are.  It is smaller early on, and sweeter, then gets a little bit tougher as it fills out...

I think a safe rule of thumb is 25 qts per 100 ears.  But that number is going to vary greatly depending on how full you fill your bags, and how full the ears are.

For reference I did 28 ears of yellow yesterday, and got 9 quarts of corn.  Tonight I did 30 ears of butter and sugar, and I got 7 quarts of corn.  Those bags were all about 3 cups each.

When Do I Order?
We pick the corn fresh each morning.  Freshly picked, sweet corn is high in sugar and low in starch. The longer it sits, the starchier it gets.  A day or two usually does not make much difference at all - but a week or so definitely will.  For me, myself, I don't let it sit more than 48 hours - the fresher the better.  After  awhile, not only will it not be as sweet, it may start to get a chalky taste.  This is one of the reasons why the sweet corn you freeze each year will be SO much better than what you buy in the freezer section of your grocery store. You can order as far in advance as you want (once we announce when it is expected to be ready) but we do not pick more than that days orders... so if you call at 9am, we may not be able to get back out to pick more until the next morning.  It depends on the day - sometimes we have time to go back out, but your best bet is to make sure we have your order before 6:30am - so the night before, typically.

Molly, after picking sweet corn.  

How Long Do I Cook It?
We do not husk the corn for you - it will come in the husk.  When you get it home, you will first husk it, then silk it.  I put the corn in a sink of cold water and run a vegetable brush over it quickly to remove the silk.  (Note - the butter and sugar also seems to have a lot more silk than the Incredible... another reason I prefer the yellow).  While you are husking you can start the water boiling on the stove.  I use my canner, but any large pan will do - even a dutch oven.  You want the corn to be at a good rolling boil, then place a few ears at a time in to cook.  Cooking recommendations are 3-5 minutes.  It will depend on how full your pan is...  basically you want the corn cooked all the way through, the ears should be good and hot.  Then you can drop them into a sink of ice water, so they are cool enough to handle to remove the corn.  You can then slice the corn off with a knife, or use a variety of gadgets.  I LOVE the pampered chef tool, and recommend it if you are doing a lot of corn.  It is SO fast and easy to use.

Why Did My Sweet Corn Go Sour?
Once you have your corn bagged, lay it out in thin piles to freeze it.  If you pile all the bags into one high stack, you run the risk of the center bags going sour.  I'm sure there is some science behind this, but I don't know exactly what it is off hand...  I just know it happened to me when I did 300 ears years ago, and my mother in law said it had happened to her once too.  I usually make sure the corn is good and cool on the counter before putting it in the freezer too.