Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Nogger on September 01, 2008, 20:54
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I have just harvest a couple of cobs,they both had the very dark beard;;signs of maturaty;they are about 12"-18" long and the diameter is a little smaller than a tennis ball at one end, smaller than you see in the stores, the colour is of a nice sunny yellow,
i have put them into a pan of boiling water for 15mins,i did the same last week with two but boiled them for 10mins, and you just can't eat them,its like trying to eat a cob of pebbles,"very hard" :? i have quite a lot of cobs left but if they are like the ones i have harvest, i might aswell dump them. does anybody have any ideas. :)
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Dont they need longer than that too cook, I always do mine for longer although I dont time them, so I couldnt tell exactly how long :?
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I have always cooked mine for around 15 minutes, I can only assume that yours are not ready?
Are you placing them into boiling water, or cold water and timing from when the water boils?
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If you pop a kernel with your finger nail ,do you get a milky liquid ? this means they are ready.
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i have always put them into boiling water.
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Just had a thought what variety are they and is there other corn growing nearby this can affect the sweetness, if your next to a field of fodder maize :shock:
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i have just had some off my brother inlaw,they were beautiful,and he is on an allotment close bye to me, i bought mine from B&Q but to look at them they look brill, i will try that what you said richy,i havn't a clue what sort they are but the corn is very hard,and i thought with the beards nearly black they would be ready :?
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Thats the way I do mine just had the first lot off for Sunday dinner this week lovely apparently, I never got 1 !! :roll:
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If I've picked it that day I only cook it for 6-7 minutes, sometimes I eat them raw straight from the cob, they're sweetest that way. I would just do it for a few minutes then taste - it can be overcooked as well as undercooked!
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I cut them into 3 inch sections, they cook quicker - but then the best way is to put them in a vegetable steamer for 30 mins.
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I ate two that weren't quite ready...still white at the ends....but they were still nice, so I can't think what your problem is.
As RR asked - could your crop have been infected by nearby corn fodder plants? Cos I know those are inedible and stay rock hard no matter how long you cook them...??
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Please excuse me for jumping on your sweetcorn thread. How can I tell when the cobs are ready? The ones at the top of the plant are being eaten by I can only assume 'pigeons'. I want to harvest the rest before they get eaten too. The tassly things on the top are coming off. I havent examined anything else. Thanks.
Re cooking sweetcorn: Maybe yours are really big ones and the recipe you are reading is for small weedy shop bought ones? I would try cooking for longer. :)
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are you sure you are not over cooking them? mine get 3 minutes tops
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Mine too lucy, 3 minutes if they're lucky! and very tender and sweet. hmm, must go get another 4 today! even shop bought older ones only get a max of 5 mins and they are then a bit chewy compared to the home grown ones.
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I bet mine only got 4-5 minutes on the Barbeque on Saturday. I left the leaves on and chucked em on! Those were Jubilee Supersweet F1 from B&Q as well.
Luverly :)
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I think either they are overdone before you picked them or cooked to long or a combo of both. With my first batch I harvested them after waiting and waiting expecting them to be the yellow colour from the shops and I then blanched them for 6 mins. Some of the kernels turned orange and were rock hard and others were OK but starchy. Chucked the whole lot in the end
With the second lot I picked them a little earlier and only cooked for 3-4 mins and they were mostly scrummy.
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Ours were quite pale when we harvested them, dropped them in boiling water for no longer than 5 minutes and they came out perfect. If they are hard then it could be leaving them on the plant too long.
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excuse my ignerence but what is this fodder stuff ? new to me,i will try what you said Srebmob bang them on the barbi cheer's :lol:
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I cook mine in the microwave.
Leave the jackets on and cook on full power for 3 mins if its a biggish one.
Must have read it on here to cook them like that - really lovely
BJ
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excuse my ignerence but what is this fodder stuff ? new to me,i will try what you said Srebmob bang them on the barbi cheer's :lol:
There's a variety they grow for animal feed, I only found this out after we had been to the Wistow Maize (http://www.wistow.com/maze_made.asp)
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I'm with BigJen - read somewhere, pos on here, to leave leaves on and nuke them for 3 min - absolutely gorgeous. Had some last night that I'd frozen a couple of weeks ago, again still with leaves intact, took about 8 min. Hubby was bowled over by how good they were!!!
Last year though was a different matter, and we ended up chucking ours too, they were like rock whether I cooked them for a couple of minutes or half an hour. Last years were sposed to have been mini ones, so maybe not picked at the correct time. I have no idea what this years ones are, they were bought as small plants from the local gardeners sale - they are smaller plants than my mini ones from last year, but full size cobs - whatever they are, am definitely going to be planting more sweetcorn next year.
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Had my first sweetcorn today, microwaved for 3 minutes as it was quite big. Lovely :D
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the way to tell according to my mums methods is to poke a skewer into the middle at the end of the cob if it doesnt go in easily it isnt cooked try that to see if it works has always been right for me! :lol:
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Got my grandson interested earlier in the year and he proudly planted 6 sweetcorn.(a bit late and they were not as tall as others on the plot. Every time I have seen him he was keen to go to the plot and see if they were ready. As I have never grown them before was a bit apprenhensive - but kept checking on here and made the brave decision to pick them a week ago and also zapped inthe microwave for 3 minutes. They were delicious (I am told) didnt even get a chance to eat one as too many excited little mouths waiting for them. So will certainly be growing more next year :tongue2: