One question we get at this time of year is about growing and harvesting baby sweetcorn and whether or not they can be treated the same as regular sweetcorn. In fact, harvesting baby sweetcorn is done a little earlier than normal sweetcorn…
Harvesting Baby Sweetcorn
With baby sweetcorn, you should harvest them while the tassels are still blonde. Wait until the cobs reach 10-15cm long, and then harvest one to check before you harvest the others. You could get 4 or 5 cobs from each plant.
Try to harvest them before they go over – once the tassels start to turn, it’s an indication that the kernels inside will have begun swelling after pollination, and baby corn is traditionally eaten before that happens.
Harvesting Regular Sweetcorn
With regular sweetcorn, we always recommend you wait until the silk tassels at the end have turned a dark brown/black in colour before checking to see that they are ripe. This is because you are waiting for the kernels inside to swell and sweeten up before harvesting.
