What type of corn do I choose so that it is amazingly tasty?

In our family, everything is like a selection of corn lovers - instead of traditional borscht they prefer corn soup, New Year's Olivier is required to be replaced with a salad with corn, and even delicious golden grains are added to pizza. But not all varieties of this cereal undergo careful taste control and turn out to be worthy of getting into the pan. Moreover, we already have a favorite - the so-called Bonduelle corn.

What is Bonduelle corn?

If you thought that we were talking about canned corn in cans, then no, it has a very indirect relationship to the matter.

When we pronounce the word “Bonduelle”, we are talking about a whole group of “golden cereal” varieties, united by one very important parameter - sweetness. Their grains contain a lot of sugar, while forage and regular table varieties have a predominant composition of starch - even after prolonged cooking it is only partially converted into sugar.

However, the word “Bonduelle” did not appear out of nowhere. The company of the same name uses super-sweet varieties of corn to make canned food, so people popularly combine them under one common name.

The most delicious varieties of corn

When choosing corn at the market, I always ask for the name of the variety. Some sellers cannot answer such a simple question, which means that they do not buy seeds in the store and, with a high degree of probability, sell the most ordinary corn with tasteless hard grains.It takes a very long time to cook and is only suitable for canning.

To enjoy sweet boiled or grilled cobs, I prefer the following varieties:

• Megaton F1 - a hybrid originally from the USA, which has become popular because of its taste. The cobs are quite large, about 25 cm in length. The grains are yellow, small, and very densely spaced.
• Honey Bantam 83 F1 - a very good Japanese hybrid. On the territory of the Russian Federation, it is often grown in the Krasnodar Territory, but imported corn grown in Turkey or Central Asia is also found. The cobs are huge, more than 30 cm long, each weighing about 400 g.
• Overland F1 - a Dutch hybrid with small cobs, up to 20 cm long. More suitable for cooking here and now than for storing for the winter.
• Testi Gold F1 - one of the best hybrids. Its taste can only be described with the words “heavenly pleasure.” The size of the cobs is slightly more than 20 cm, the grains are large and yellow.
• Sweet Nugget F1 — this German hybrid is one of the first to go on sale. Good for canning and preparing various dishes. The length of the cobs is up to 25 cm, the grains are medium in size.

In fact, there are many more varieties of corn belonging to the Bonduelle group - several hundred. But in our markets, the ones listed above are most often found.

How to distinguish supersweet varieties and hybrids?

As a rule, traders do not deceive - if they sell not super-sweet corn, but regular corn, they always warn about it. However, there are also those for whom the main thing is to sell goods and get money. To avoid falling for their bait, I carefully examine the cobs before purchasing. If the seller named the variety at random, the ears most likely will not correspond to the varietal description.

Another reliable way to tell super sweet corn from regular corn is to pick out a few kernels and taste them. They should be tasty, sugary. If the seller does not allow you to check the product thoroughly, he either does it out of spite, or he has something to hide. In both cases it is better to go to another counter.

There is a misconception about the appearance of super-sweet cobs - for example, my neighbor chooses only cobs with very small and light kernels, because she is convinced that this is what Bonduelle corn looks like. In fact, varieties with high sugar content can be very different in appearance from each other. Among them there are those whose grains are bright yellow, and those that are characterized by a white or cream color. The same applies to the size of the grains - they can be small, large, or medium in size.

Be sure to try Bonduelle corn if you haven't bought it before, and it will surely become your favorite summer treat.