The Sweet Corn

Sweet corn is widely present all over the world except in areas with very short summers. Also, It’s a tall grass that produces sugary kernels, you can eat it raw or by cooking. Straight from the cob or you can remove it and can serve in dozens of ways as a side dish vegetable, in salads, garnishes, creamed, etc., even in ice cream! Also, it’s an easy vegetable to grow in a family garden. This article discusses the sweet corn.

Facts:

1. The tallest sweet corn plant on record measured 10.74 m (35 ft 3 inches). That’s nearly 3 floors high. It was grown by Jason Karl in Costa Rica in 2011.

2. The silk of sweet corn is actually the stigma (the female part). There is one strand of silk per grain of corn.

3. Also, There are about 800 kernels on each ear of corn.

4. Sweet corn leaves were once used as chewing gum by Native Americans.

5. Also, Sweet corn is through wind. That’s why plants are usually grown close together: so even a light breeze can carry the pollen from the tassel at the top of the plant (the male part) to the cluster of silks (the female part) at the tip of the cob of a neighboring plant.

6. An ear of corn always has an even number of rows.

7. Field corn also called maize grows for over 8000 years, but sweet corn is a relative newcomer.

8. It first appears in Brazil as a spontaneous mutation on field corn about 1000 years ago, then slowly spreads through the New World.

9. Also, The Iroquois gave the first sweet corn, called ‘PAPOON’, to the European settlers in 1779.

10. No need to pull the husk apart to check for the ripeness of sweet corn: you only need to look and feel.

11. If the silks have turned brown and the ears are entirely out,  you can tell by feeling the end of the ear – it should be rounded or blunt rather than pointed- it’s time to harvest.

12. Heritage varieties, especially, usually get their sweetness from the “SU” gene and their sugars start to turn to starch only 30 minutes after harvest.

13. Even modern sweet corns, whose sugars hold on longer, one can cook  within 3 days of harvesting.

14. Some people believe that yellow corn is sweeter than white, but that’s not the case. Also, Yellow corn is, however, slightly better for your health than white corn, as the yellow coloration comes from beta carotene that our bodies convert to vitamin A.

Goodness: 

Corn is rich in vitamin C

It is an antioxidant

Also, Corn helps protect your cells from damage

The corn wards off diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Yellow corn is a good source of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin,

Corns are also good for eye health

They help prevent the lens damage that leads to cataracts.

ALSO READ: The Shrikhand Recipe

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