Sweet corn is summer treasure

Eating crispy sweet corn the same day it’s picked is one of the best reasons to stop at a roadside farm stand. Fresh corn-on-the-cob’s notes of honey and vegetal cream barely resemble the starchy, grainy flavor of processed corn.

Demonstrating fresh sweet corn’s esteem in the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Visalia Times-Delta ran a feature yesterday about First Fruits Sweet Corn in Hanford where customers can buy the proprietors’ secret corn variety until the end of September.

Reporter Hillary Meeks contacted UC Cooperative Extension agronomy farm advisor Carol Frate for perspective on local corn production. She said cultivating sweet corn takes more time and work than field corn grown for silage.  For example, checking each ear for worms is labor intensive, but many consumers find it distasteful to find one themselves (even though they are harmless. Just cut off that part of the ear).

Though she probably won’t say cooking fresh vegetables is in her area of expertise, Frate shared with the reporter how she prepares corn.

“Either she steams it for four minutes or her husband covers it in garlic butter and grills it until it has grill marks on all sides,” the story said.

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