And Now -- Glass Gem Corn!

So, you may or may not remember that back in the spring I did a post about some of the stuff I was planting in the garden, including this really neat Glass Gem Corn. I had only nine or ten plants and I've been keeping an eye on them, waiting impatiently for the corn to mature.  

The corn stalks didn't make the size of my other corn -- some are downright puny. But unlike my sweet corn, these stalks each had two or even three ears -- small ears 

I've been concerned that something would get them before I did and yesterday I saw that the deer had moved in. Deer had been nibbling at the sweet corn and now that it's all harvested, they made a  move on my precious Glass Gem corn, the vandals! 

So, in a pre-emptive strike, I picked about half the ears -- those that were almost mature.

Maturity is signaled by the cornsilk drying up and turning dark brown -- I picked some that were only dark-ish...

And, oh, the fun of carefully pulling back the shucks to see what the corn looks like!

Amazing colors!

This is one the deer chomped on -- but look at that turquoise shade and see how some of the kernels at the top are parti-colored!

One ear was just beginning to show some color; another was yellow and white, and another (probably very immature) was pure white.

I think that they gain color as they dry -- we'll see.

There was one puzzzling aberration --I wonder if it's a throwback to the ancestor of corn -- teosinte?

 

Talk about delayed gratification! I'm sure I appreciate this corn far more than if I'd just mail-ordered a few dried ears.

In any event, I have some of this gorgeous corn safely drying in my corner cupboard. I'll use some as decorations and save some for seed. If any of you want to give this a try next year, perhaps I'll be able to share (if the deer leave me a few more ears.) But only here in the states -- I think that most countries have stringent regulations about sending seeds.

How does is taste? I did a taste test on one -- at the stage when sweet corn is juicy and, well, sweet, this was dryish, gummy, and very starchy. I'd say that this is a corn suited for making flour or feeding critters.

Or, of course,  for blogging about.