Do you have a favorite sweet corn?

[Denninmi]

I have a few, and I'm pretty loyal to them, because I haven't found any better types yet in each respective class:

Sh2 variety: Burpee's Sun and Stars bicolor -- great big, ultra sweet ears with good corn flavor, too. The down side is its a bugger to germinate. My backup is the old stardard Illini Xtra Sweet, the first real Sh2 corn and still among the best, IMHO.


SE - Burpee's Ruby Queen - -the red sweet corn. I started growing it for the color as a novelty, but decided its just a great corn all around. Unfortunately, last year, deer got into it and stripped most of it the day before I was going to harvest and put it in the freezer.

White -- I've got 2 white corns I like, Mirai White (which impresses me more than the other Mirai strains) a synergistic hybrid, and another Burpee variety, Sugar Pearls, which is an SE Corn.

[enough]

1. Honey Select, which I buy from Rohrer Seeds locally.

So good, I stopped bothering with any other variety and just do successive plantings of this.

I must say, the deer have gotten so bad that I actually gave up on corn last year. Too much heartbreak. But I'll probably try again this year.

[Denninmi]

2. I'm going to do the fish line thing this year around my main gardens.

I'm getting sick of the hoof rats destroying things.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Silver Queen.

Combines size, sweetness and lasting quality! Tall, attractive plants produce 8- to 9-in. ears with 14-16 rows of creamy kernels. Leaf blight tolerant. 88 DAYS.

http://gurneys.com/product.asp?splid=SITE&pn=14455

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. The preferred corn to grow down here. in our sub-tropical clime.

Have to plant it by March, tho.
( assuming a "normal" weather pattern, of course)


We love it, and won't buy anything else.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. Oh, nostalgia...we can't grow good corn here like we did in PA.

I (gasp!) loved the Super Sweets, and especially one of the first whites - How Sweet It Is. We grew loads of it.

I am disappointed at the corn we get at the Raleigh Farmers' Market - don't know if it is the variety, or it is always a bit old....

But yes, we are sh2 lovers! the SEs just don't quite do it as much...

Silver Queen is fine if you eat it right away - but it goes down hill so fast!

[HopeHoops]

6. Most of what we get around here (local, PA) is butter & sugar.

It's good, but I grew up in MD and Silver Queen is the cream.

[Denninmi]

7. Well, I like both groups, for different reasons.

Just to eat as corn on the cob, I'd go for the Sun and Stars anytime over the others. Same for frozen corn to just cook and eat as corn. But, I prefer the SE varieties to use in cooking, they seem to hold up better and have more flavor when I add to things like enchilada filling, soups, etc.

[HopeHoops]

5. Eastern shore (MD) Silver Queen is really the best - you can eat it raw.

Inland Silver Queen is damn good, but it can't compare to eastern shore.

[Agony]

8. If you like the Ruby Queen

you should try HorizonHerbs Double Red it is open pollinated so you can save seed. I love to grill sweet corn but the double red is also great to dry and use for corn bread if it gets away from you. I have been successfully saving DR seed for a years now. Of course you do have to follow some basic rules about cross pollination if you want to save OP seed... isolating for example... I grow at least 8 different varieties of corn tho and have saved seeds just fine...

Hoof Rats... that says it all... (and I am stealing that terminology) I have had to fence them out completely or I would not get anything!

a worthwhile technique that Horizon mentions... planting clover or vetch under the corn... I plant rows of hairy vetch down each side of the corn right after last cultivation (knee high). The hairy vetch grows up under the corn, smothers weed and provides a green manure with extra nitrogen. It winter kills before flowering (well usually...it has been warmer lately) and provides organic matter when you turn it in.

[shraby]

9. Candy Corn from (I think) Burpees is always super good.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. I prefer the plain old fashioned yellow sweet corn.

I have never tried growing corn, so I don't know what grows best, but for eating, I crave the yellow corn of my youth. Now, all we ever see is butter and sugar or silver queen----and both of these have much smaller kernels than I want. Wish I knew what that old yellow corn was....I might try growing some.

[Agony]

12. Golden Bantam is a classic yellow sweet corn that has been around since the early 1900's

Good chance this would satisfy your corn craving. I know what you mean... I grew up with this Open Pollinated Su standard and I still love it for its corny taste and feel.

A slightly "newer" corn like Golden Cross Bantam might do as well and it is a hybrid (I'm pretty sure) from maybe 1940??

The standard corn does not hold its sweetness well so you probably won't find this at a groc store...

I hope you get a chance to grow some sweet corn and relive those days!

Cheers,
Agony

Cuban Corn - mmmmmmmmmmmm
•shuck the corn and grill it, rotating it to lightly brown it all around
•spread mayonaise on the corn with a knife (or use some sort of mayo substitute if mayo scares ya)
•sprinkle the corn all around with red hot pepper chili powder
•sprinkle the corn all around with grated parmesan cheese (or some other hard cubanish type cheese that I can't find)
•drizzle a little lime juice over top and dig in!!!

(cuz I am insane I like to mix some crushed garlic into the mayo before spreading it)
this works great with corn that might have lost some of its sweetness

[mopinko]

13. great thread, thanks. DH demand corn this year.

our little garden is too small for corn, and the earwigs here eat the silks anyway. but now that we have a big plot we will be growing some this year.