In recent years the corn grown by commercial interests appears to have lost taste to my way of thinking. The purchased corn is always completely filled out;in fact, it could be considered too mature. It all looks like corn but has no flavour. I suggest there has been too much genetic engineering. One of my favourites is Seneca Chief, and to prepare it for the table, it is mandatory that the water be boiling on the stove, then one rushes out and picks the corn to minimize the time between picking and cooking. Corn cooked in this manner tastes like corn, not the insipid stuff on the market today. Corn in the garden takes a lot of room, but if space is available the rewards are worth the effort. Next year I am going to grow corn, so I can get some that if fit to eat. Has anybody else arrived at the opinion expressed? Durgan.
Well, the tragedy of being young(ish) is not knowing any better. Then again, I've had some fresh Peaches N' Cream corn grown in Chilliwack recently, and it's as good or better than any I've tasted.
Chilliwack super sweet or peaches n cream is too die for. Although my wife bought some at the local grocery store that was nothing special. Jim.
When I was growing up in the 60's/70's we planted lots of corn in our garden. It has been my experience that corn loses its flavour very quickly. We generally tried to get it onto the grill as soon as possible after picking (minutes not days or even hours.) It was indescribably delicious. Corn purchased at stores or even road-side markets never tasted as good. I think this is still the case, but I have found that some of the new varieties do come closer to the fresh taste of home grown than earlier varieties. (I could be wrong, but I believe these varieties were developed through traditional plant breeding.) Some of these new varieties keep their sugar content for much longer than earlier ones, giving them better flavour after even days on the shelf. The flavour of fresh from the garden still surpasses that from these new types by far.
I should have pointed out that on our farm the charcoal was glowing or the pot was boiling before we went to pick as well. It really makes a difference to cook it immediately!
If you can't grow it yourself, try to buy it from a local truck farm that picks small quantities every few hours (we have a local one that does this)- the corn is excellent. The newer sugar enhanced and super sweets were developed through hybrid selection, not genetic engineering, to hold their sugar longer than the older varieties. I still have not had corn from a supermarket that had much flavor. Even the newer hybrids need to be freshly picked, within a day or two, and chilled quickly to hold their sugars.
Four years ago I was travelling through Vermont and saw some corn at a stand. There was no attendant. There was a container for honour payment. The corn was completely immersed in water in a large trough. We purchase two dozen. We stopped at a picknic site and cooked the corn on our small stove. To this day we are still talking about that feed of corn. It was as perfect as it could be. Not having a chance to experiment, I have often wondered if immersing fresh picked corn under cold water is a reasonable method to prevent the transition of sugar to starch. I have only encountered this practice once in my life, but certainly will experiment, when I grow corn next year. Durgan.
I have heard/ read that immersing corn in ice water immediately after picking will slow the conversion of sugar to starch- cold water immersion is probably better than just leaving the corn out in the warm air.
I used to work at a corn processing shed. All corn has to be processed the day it was picked--otherwise it goes through a "heat". As soon as the corn was packed in slat boxes it was placed on a conveyor belt with ice water dripping on the boxes. It took about 15 min to pass through the chiller, then it was placed in box cars and sprayed with ice.
Well, after hearing this, it sure makes that corn piled in huge cardboard boxes at the markets pretty unappealing.
We buy our corn from a local farm. They usually sell out the days corn every day so it's fresh and very tasty. The supermarket corn stinks... I rarely buy it. I plant corn every year, but get very few ears (and there's always a battle to pick it before the racoons or squirrels do). But cooked right off the stalk is by far the best tasting. This year I planted too late and didn't get any ears... it's just a decorative patch of tiny little stalks. :-)
Funny to read about the creatures that raid your veggie patch. Here down under, we also have critters that like a free feed. Wombats, Bandicoots, and Drop Bears. The flying type, Kookaburra, Crows, Galahs, Flying Foxes And Emu.
I experienced the soaking of corn before cooking or BBQ when I travelled round Africa. I noticed they soaked the corns in a big gallon of water, and just put it on the fire at your request. The taste was to die for, and have always done it that way since.
