When is sweetcorn ready?

[Mr Griff]

Hi,
We have planted some baby sweetcorn on the lottie and it seems to be doing really well. The thing is, as this is our first year of growing sweetcorn, we dont know when to crop the plant.
I have attached a couple of photos to show you how big the cobs & flowers are (my wife's hand is on there to give you some perspective).
Any advice would be more than welcome.
Thanks
Steve G

[HeyWayne]

I think you pull back the leaves (there is a technical term for them, but I can't remember what it is), then stick your thumbnail in one of the kernels. If the juice that comes out is milky then they're ready.

Or is it when the juice is clear......

[djhs196]

Right the first time Wayne - as above, and if the juice is milky, it's ready.

Get the pan up to the boil before you harvest and don't add salt (apparently as it toughens the corn)

[Snadger]

I would hazzard a guess that it's still not quite ready. It appears that the tassles have started to dry out but usually they dry out completely and go brown when it's ready.

If its the type where you stir fry the whole cob I would think that would be harvested when slightly immature though!

[Snadger]

I think you pull back the leaves (there is a technical term for them, but I can't remember what it is),..............

Circumcission?????

[Two_Sheds]

Yeah, as above advice.
It's ready when the tassels look like burnt hair. Then peel back the skin and press a fingernail into a kernel. If the juice is clear, it ain't ready. If the juice is milky, scoff the lot!

[SarzWix]

Unless by "Baby" sweetcorn, you mean the little mini ones which you stir-fry (I have some called Minipop)? If so, they are harvested when the tassels first show & are still white.

[burnie]

I eat mine raw,yours don't look quite ready just yet,trial and error.The advice I received on here a couple of years ago was..........eat it , eat it!!!!!!!!

[sallyw]

our sweetcorn was coming on in leaps and bounds and was almost ready to pick we went to the allotment one day and about a third of the cobs had been stripped it was the bloody magpies so we took off the ruined ones and netted the lot apparantly the birds sit on the tops of the cob gather the leaves in their beaks and jump down to strip it and once the cob is exposed they scoff the lot (one of the old boys at the plot told me that!!) clever little buggers (the birds i mean)

[Frana]

Definately when the tassles look brown and 'burnt'.
Press a fingernail into the corn and if it is a milky colour - reep what you have sown

Cook 'em relatively quickly though as the sugar rapidly turns to starch and taste deteriorates considerably.