Sweet Corn

I wonder if that Peaches & Cream is the same as Butter & Sugar corn... my husband is a crazy gardener, & we have quite the corn patch right now. I love it, when you pick an ear & boil it, it's sweeter than any candy...ever! When it's fresh off the stalk, it tastes like a totally different vegetable than when you buy it in stores. Yum... I eat it often & have no problems at all...go figure!

Warning more esoteric corn info follows: It is interesting that different parts of the country have different "favorite" types of sweet corn. I have observed this having lived in the East (New England), Mid West and currently California. From my experience it seems that the most popular types in the East are Bi Color, mixed yellow and white kernels ( peaches and cream, butter and sugar are two varieties, both are quite good) Mid west has both the bi color and yellow with yellow predominate. My brother grew candy corn (yellow) for years in the mid west it is incredibly sweet and is what is called an extra sweet variety. Personally, I prefer the SE varieties (sugar enhanced) as they are sweet but tend to have a more flavor. California is predominately white sweet corn and it is quite good.

All sweet corn begins to lose sweetness as soon as it is picked. The extra sweet and SE varieties and other newer hybrids hold the sugar content much longer and thus are generally your best bet if buying at a grocery store or farmers market. Non the less it is still a good idea to buy the corn and eat it as soon as possible. In the days of non hybrid and the early hybrids (up to about 1970) the old saying was get the pot of water boiling and then pick the corn. The first extra sweet variety readily available was called Illini Extra Sweet and this began a sea change in quality and marketing. Rather than boil sweet corn I actually prefer to roast the corn in its husk on a grill or better yet on the coals of a camp fire. If you boil it my method with young and fresh corn is bring water to a boil put in corn and when it comes back to a boil take it out, that is all the cooking it needs. If the corn is fresh picked and not over ripe it is an incredible pleasure to eat it raw out in the garden. Enjoy

Last night as I sat devouring an ear of corn, I mentioned to my boyfriend who is from the east coast about the different varieties of corn mentioned in this thread. He's lived all over the country and said the same as rdm; every region has it's own type of sweet corn and all are pretty delicious. He said the sweetest he's had has been in California, but I envy all of the folks that can just stop at a roadside stand and buy it fresh from the farmer! Wow is all I can say, it must be fantastic.