Grilled Corn

Sweet corn is a warm-season vegetable that can be grown easily in any garden with sufficient light, fertility, growing season and space. It is especially popular with home gardeners because it tastes appreciably better when it is harvested and eaten fresh from the garden. Successive plantings can yield continual harvests from early summer until frost if the weather cooperates.

Sweet corn may be divided into three distinct types according to genetic background: normal sugary (SU), sugary enhancer (SE) and supersweet (Sh2).

Standard sweet corn varieties contain a "sugary (SU) gene" that is responsible for the sweetness and creamy texture of the kernels. SUs are best suited to being picked, husked and eaten within a very short time. In the home garden, this is sometimes possible but not always practical. The old adage was "start the water boiling, run to the patch, pick and husk the corn, run back to the pot, cook the corn, and eat or process immediately."

Sugary enhancer hybrids contain the sugary enhancer (SE) gene, that significantly raises the sugar content above standard SUs while retaining the tenderness and creamy texture of standard varieties. The taste, tenderness and texture are outstanding. SEs are the gourmet corns of choice for home gardeners because they contain the best qualities of both SU and Sh2 types. Fresh from the garden, virtually all current SE releases have eating quality that is superior to all other types. No isolation from standard SUs is necessary.

Supersweet hybrids contain the shrunken -2 gene and have a higher sugar content than the standard SU varieties. The kernels of the extra-sweet varieties have a crispy, tough-skinned texture and contain low amounts of the water-soluble polysaccharides that impart the creamy texture and "corny" flavor to other sweet corn varieties. Although the lack of creamy texture is not especially noticeable in fresh corn on the cob, it affects the quality of frozen and canned corn, as does the toughness of the seed coat. Unless corn must be stored, shipped or mechanically harvested, SEs are superior in eating quality to Sh2s.

Supersweets (Sh2) should be isolated from any other type of corn tasseling at the same time to ensure sweetness and tenderness. Their pollen is weak and easily supplanted by other types, which causes the kernel to revert to a form with the toughness and starchiness of field corn. Because corn is wind-pollinated, this isolation distance can be 500 feet or more, especially downwind.

Nutritional Value & Health Benefits

Sweet corn is high in fiber, niacin, folate and some vitamin A. Folate has been found to prevent neural-tube birth defects and current research suggests that it helps to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Fiber, of course, helps to keep the intestinal track running smoothly.

Nutrition Facts (Serving size: 1 ear yellow sweet corn )

Calories 83.16
Protein 2.56 grams
Carbohydrates 19.3 grams
Dietary Fiber 2.15 grams
Potassium 191.73 mg
Vitamin A 167 IU
Niacin 1.24 mg
Folate 35.73 mcg

Mexican Street Corn