Our first planting of sweet corn in the garden here at Mole Hill will be ripe for the picking any day, but we couldn’t wait, and Wednesday night we dined on corn on the cob, grown locally by someone whose crop is a little further along than ours. For me, chomping those tender golden kernels with a whisk of butter and salt and a dose of black pepper has been the taste of summer ever since I’ve had teeth and could hold an ear of corn in two hands.
We don’t plant sweet corn every year. It requires quite a bit of garden space, and the price of a dozen fresh and delicious ears proffered by our local vendor is reasonable. But this year, two plantings of four rows of corn will contribute to plenty of homegrown meals with enough to freeze for winter table fare.
Sweet corn is a relatively recent development in the evolution of corn, which scientists estimate was first cultivated more than 5,000 years ago, though evidence of its existence goes back much further. Corn’s precise horticultural and geographical origins in the Americas are fiercely debated topics, and its original sugary mutation to sweet corn also is dubious. It has been suggested sweet corn might have been developed in the Andes by 1000 A.D., while others believe American Indians are responsible for its origins.
Read more from UMD Master Gardener Jan Wiese-Fales at:
https://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jul/17/sweet-corn-a-summer-favorite/
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.