Monica
This sweet corn is really, truly red down to the flowers, tassels and stalk, and its so delicious that it’s hard to harvest without just sitting down for a feast right in the garden. But the story behind this corn, told by its developer Alan Kapuler, is also delightful.
“In the mid 1970’s after collecting SW Amerind starch corns, I wondered why all the sweet corns we liked to eat were monocolors, all yellow or all white seeded. A consequence of this observation was Rainbow Inca Sweet Corn, the first of our multicolored sweet corns. A later one was Painted Hill Sweet Corn. Every once in a while a sweet corn would have some dark burgundy purple, high anthocyanin seeds. We picked out a few and began selecting so that now we have Double Red Sweet Corn with intensely dark purple seeds from a genetic trait that inherits in the female. Some years ago, Rosemarie LaCherez sent us a popcorn (Chires) that tillers and makes 3-5 little ears per stalk. Some plants will have several dozen ears. Crosses with Double Red Sweet Corn have given a remarkable diversity of new corns. Selection is difficult. The direction is still inscrutable.”
You might think a corn like this is hard to grow. After three years, I can say that its quite forgiving. It’s not as uniform as some of the hybrid sweet corns, and it does not all mature at the same time — an advantage for a home gardener.
Planting is the same as for any corn – good soil, full sun, lots of water early in the season. Weed until you can’t get in there any more, and when you feel a nice plump ear, do some taste testing. In the milk stage, the red will start out as a red dot, and the corn is quite sweet and juicy. By the time it is fully red, the flavor is more nutty – at this stage, it works wonderfully in salads and similar summer dishes, and also freezes well.
