Sweetcorn - How long will it last

[KeithR]

Just started to pick the first sweetcorn that I have ever grown and it is true what they say. The taste fresh from the plant is so much better than anything you can buy in the shops. My problem though is that there are far more cobs on the plants than we can successfully eat without getting sick of them. My wife says they will freeze with no problem,  but what I would like to know is how long will they stay on the plant before they start to go off in terms of taste, or going to seed?

KeithR

[KeithR]

[Roy Bham UK]

The trouble with leaving them on the plant is that the wild life won't hang around for you, they will just eat them. :o

[tim]

They'll just go starchy on the plant. Get them off & freeze. Wrap each tightly in clingfilm. They can last a year in the freezer!!

[Chantenay]

Tim - if they are rushed from plot to freezer, do you think I can get away with not blanching them. The last two years I have blanched - last year for just under 1 min - then open frozen - but frankly they have come out soggy and disappointing. Also - do you cling film before freezing or after? Details please.

[tim]

We blanched ours & wrapped them tightly in clingfilm. Some got left for a year & were - to my Wife's taste - excellent!

I shall try a few unblanched this year - I reckon they'd be fine in the short term.

Whatever, DO get your freezer as cold as it will go & DON'T put too much in at a time.

[saddad]

We haven't blanched ours and it still tastes great... must get the last finished as the new is nearly ready!
8)

[Chantenay]

Thanks for that both - I have a cunning plan. More careful drying of blanched corn and the cling film will improve things for half the crop, and the other half I shall cling film and freeze and eat within 4/5 months.

[KeithR]

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice I picked the lot and froze them this morning. All the good ones were wrapped in clingfilm however with half of the cobs the vast majority of the individual kernals had not matured, usally only about one third of the cob had good kernals. I didn't waste them however as my wife told me to blanche them and take the good kernals off the cob and freeze as sweetcorn.

The question is though, why did the cobs not fully mature. The kernals that were good were nice and big and very sweet. Could it be the germination or growing conditions. I was very careful to make sure that they got loads of water.

KeithR

[tin can]

We just put the whole cobs (without taking off the leafy bits ) into a freezer bag and pop straight into the freezer. They only seem to last until Xmas as they get eaten!!!! :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

That sounds like poor pollination, Keith. Is there any reason why the female flowers might not have got their proper dose of pollen? Were the good kernels randomly distributed, or in specific areas of the cob?

[KeithR]

I only had 12 plants in a square and did wonder if the affected cobs were from the outside. The kernals that developed were, in the main along one side of the cob. The rest of the cob was covered in what were obviously immature kernals. Next year I will pay more attention to where the cob is on the plant when I harvest them so that I can see if that is the reason.

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is odd; I'd expect something more random if it was just poor pollination alone.