When, how and then what?

Harvest time: Depending on the variety, between the end of July and October

Do you grow sweet corn to eat or do you want to obtain seeds? Depending on this, the sweet corn has to ripen for different lengths of time. In order to obtain seeds, the corn cobs on the plant have to dry out. The outer leaves are then brown. This is mostly the case between August and October.

For consumption, many can sorts can be harvested as early as the end of July. Late ripening varieties develop their correct degree of ripeness between September and October. Basically it can be said that it is from the sowing takes 90 to 100 days to harvest. The cobs are ripe three weeks after flowering.

This is how you recognize the maturity of the pistons!

You can recognize ripe ears of sweet corn by the following characteristics:

• Threads (former styles of female flowers) are brown to black
• The threads have dried up
• Milk ripeness: A milky white juice emerges from the corn kernels

What is milk maturity?

You can test the milk maturity by scratching a kernel of corn with a fingernail or a knife. If a milky-white juice comes out, the harvest time for consumption has come. If, on the other hand, a clear and watery juice emerges, the cobs are still immature. Once the cobs have hardened, it is too late to eat - the perfect time to harvest seeds.

How is it harvested?

The cobs are simply broken off the plant or cut off with a knife. You don't have to be careful with this. The sweet corn is annual and is composted after harvest. For seed production, the cobs are hung up to dry after harvest.

Use the sweet corn

• Eat or preserve soon after harvest
• well suited for Freeze
• after the harvest, the contained sugar turns into starch (sweetness disappears)
• wait no longer than 8 hours from harvest to consumption
• z. B. Deflate the flask and cook or grill for 20 minutes