Content
- Harvesting corn: This is how to detect whether vegetable maize is ready for harvest
- The right harvest time for vegetable corn
- Harvest between July and September
- How to store fresh corn properly
- Rip the popcorn corn and let it dry
- Some delicious food ideas for fresh corn
- Tips & Tricks
Harvesting corn: This is how to detect whether vegetable maize is ready for harvest
It is not easy to find the right time for the corn harvest. If you wait too long, the grains will be hard and no longer edible - provided, of course, that the birds native to each garden have not yet served.
Next article Corn: Prevent and Detect Pests and DiseasesThe right harvest time for vegetable corn
Sugar or vegetable maize is harvested at the stage of lactation. At this time, the grains are not quite ripe, which, however, would not be desirable. Because mature maize has hard grains that are inedible in the raw state. You can determine the optimal degree of ripeness for human consumption by carving a corn kernel with a fingernail. If whitish juice comes out, the corn is ready to be picked.
Harvest between July and September
Another clue is provided by the tufts from the flowers at the end of the flask. Once these turn brown and dry, the corn can be harvested. Depending on variety, location, weather and planting date, you can look forward to fresh corn between July and September, with the peak season for corn in the hot month of August. If you want to harvest corn, simply break or cut off the flasks along with the surrounding leaves. Please note that not all pistons mature at the same time.
How to store fresh corn properly
Fresh corn tastes best when consumed immediately or just after harvest. But that's usually not possible with larger quantities. Vegetable corn keeps fresh for about a week in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. However, you can also blanch both the flasks and the grains for two to three minutes in boiling water and then place in a freezer bag in the freezer. There the maize from own production holds itself for several weeks.
Rip the popcorn corn and let it dry
You choose a different method than described for pop corn. Unlike vegetable corn, this must mature on the flask until the grains are hard. Cover the corn plants with a protective net, otherwise the birds will feed on your corn harvest. After harvest, cut the grains off the flask and dry them for a few days to weeks (depending on the variety) in the air.
Some delicious food ideas for fresh corn
Tips & Tricks
Eat freshly harvested corn as soon as possible. The sugar contained in the grains transforms into starch during storage, so that longer-stored corn kernels no longer taste so sweet and crisp.