Corn. Oh sweet, sweet corn. It is harvested in May in Ohio, and if you’re lucky, you can get into the stores selling it and buy some before they run out. This year, I was one of the lucky ones.

So why is sweet corn so, well, sweet? According to Carroll County Grows, sweet corn is harvested at a different stage in its growth than field corn (the corn most of us are accustomed to eating year-round).

Unlike field corn varieties, which are allowed to dry and harvest at full maturity, sweet corn is harvested at the ‘milk stage’. As corn kernels dry the sugar in them converts to starch; harvesting the sweet corn at an early stage in maturation allows higher contents of sugars to remain in the grain making the corn sweet. Sweetness in corn is a naturally occurring recessive gene that humans have been enjoying since the Native Americans. Sweet corn does not store well so the sooner you cook and enjoy your corn on the cob the better it will taste.

So other than corn on the cob, what are ways to cook it? At our house, we like mixing vegetables together. Other than the herbs, the mix in the photo below contains vegetables purchased from the grocery store. This summer, some of our own plants will be chopped up and added to a stir fry.

Ingredients

• sweet corn cut from the cob
• carrots, sliced
• celery, chopped
• peppers, chopped
• onions, sliced
• pepper flakes, as much as you like!
• garlic, 6 cloves sliced
• herbs, rosemary, cilantro, tarragon, caraway

It will be hard to eat the frozen corn for after this.

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Want to know more about what is harvested and when in Ohio? Check out this harvest calendar. Just keep in mind that the calendar is, most likely, no longer correct. As our planet heats up, the growing seasons and grow zones have shifted. And as it continues to happen, farmers will find some crops difficult (or impossible) to grow.