One ear of corn in this town never wilts or shrivels, no matter how hot the July sun gets. If it did, the 30-foot sculpture that sits on top of the visitor’s center in the middle of this small town would topple onto the main road and with it, a symbol of intense pride for the community.
This is corn country, if you didn’t know. Many people don’t, instead giving that label to the stalk-swollen fields of Iowa, a state that does harvest an impressive bounty of industrial-use ears. But when it comes time to talk about eating corn, with the tender, sugary nubs that are some of summer’s truest pleasures, a good bet is to go farther north, especially to the “Corn Capital of Minnesota.”
That would be Olivia, 90 meandering miles west of the Twin Cities. Corn Capital Days start Wednesday and with them, the sort of festivities that can be found in thousands of small fairs across the U.S.
But with corn, there is always a particularly sunny aspect to the proceedings. The corn itself, of course, has a golden hue, as do the feathery tassels that drape from the tip of the ear. (Butter always makes corn taste better–everyone knows that–and it adds its own yellow note.)
But some of the glow that comes from corn has to be that it is a true American plant, native to the soil, nurtured for centuries, and not appreciated anywhere as much as it is in this country.
Sweet corn is special, on the ear or off.
“If you are looking for the foundation of American produce, it is corn, and if you are looking for the foundation of American agribusiness, it is corn,” said Betty Fussell, author of “The Story of Corn.”
“I was astonished by how crucial it was to civilizations that far back in history. Native Americans used it as the sacred staff of life and as part of sacred ritual.”
It has become a powerful economic staple: The U.S. produces 43 percent of the total world supply, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service. The next largest corn producer is China, at a mere 18 percent. We also lead the world in consumption figures of sweet corn, and we eat quite a bit in the form of corn syrup, cornstarch, corn oil and cornmeal.
That’s because most corn is grown for purposes other than gnawing on the cob. The majority of what we produce is industrial-grade corn used for everything from animal feed to ethanol to corn syrup. Other corn types include popcorn, decorative Indian corn and “specific-trait” corn bred for the milling characteristics that are ideal for cornmeal.
In the end, sweet corn makes up less than 8 percent of what is harvested on American farms. Of the more than 79 million acres of corn planted in the U.S. every year, only 700,000 are devoted to sweet corn.
Because the more lucrative corn business is in manufacturing, rather than meals, even a state like Iowa–with its legendary association with the cereal–gives most of its acres to industrial corn. (Iowa no longer is the king of corn, being out-yielded by such states as California, Arizona, Idaho and Illinois.) One reason is that industrial corn is fully matured before harvesting, which allows the kernels to get dry and hard. Hard kernels aren’t easily damaged the way sweet corn is.
Sweet corn sales tend to be a sideline in many areas, a cash business at a roadside stand for small farmers. That is because it is a tougher crop to perfect and sell. Consumers want each kernel to be tender, smooth and sugary. There can’t be any rot or missing rows or withering. People evaluate corn on the cob right at the store, and if it doesn’t look perfect, it gets rejected.
But Minnesota doesn’t shy away from the sweet stuff. Not only is the state a major grower of the sweet corn, it also is the country’s second-largest producer (after Washington) of the processed sweet corn that ends up canned, frozen, or used in soups or convenience foods.
Suppliers of sweet corn
Gary Pahl knows all about good Minnesota corn. He and brother Brian, both in their 40s, with deeply tanned arms, brown cheeks and sunburned noses, are fifth-generation farmers on more than 1,100 acres of fine soil south of Minneapolis.
The Pahls grow about 20 varieties of sweet corn–and sweet peas, soybeans, tomatoes, melons and peppers–for their farmstand in Apple Valley, as well as chain grocery stores, including some in Chicago and Dallas. And corn is a preoccupation right now.
It’s harvest time. During this season, now through September, the Pahls’ crew packs up to 4,000 bags, or 200,000 ears of corn, a day. As the corn goes from planting to peaking to picking with the Pixall harvester, then to the sorting, bagging, shipping and stocking that must take place before consumers can buy it, farmers like the Pahls have their fingers crossed.
At each step, growers worry about crop damage from insects and weather and careless handling. The delicate vegetable needs shade and cool temperatures to keep the sugar content from falling once it leaves the stalk, which is why they pick early in the morning. But even the predawn picking can be difficult, judging by a visit to the farm last season, when there had been no rain for eight weeks and the heat index reached 110 degrees.
Even when the rains do come, problems can arise.
“When it’s muddy, that’s a nightmare, getting the harvester in the field,” Brian said. “A windstorm with downed corn is another nightmare. The machine is useless if you get a big windstorm, because you have to pick the corn up by the tassel.
“The growing depends on how much rain you have, and if you don’t have enough rain, the tips won’t fill out. You are allowed so many ears like that per box and then the buyers will reject it. There are so many variables,” Brain said.
“You think you have it figured out and then something else comes along.”
Even with a perfect yield, the price growers can command isn’t as rewarding as it could be.
“The price 20 years ago was about $6 a bag,” said Gary Pahl, taking a pinch of Copenhagen chewing tobacco. “Today it is $6 or less, but everything else has gone up: labor, seed, equipment.”
One of the biggest changes for sweet corn farmers is the way the corn is picked. Traditionally, of course, it was taken off the stalk by hand, by the first growers–native Americans. Hand harvesting continued through the days when fields were planted right by canneries up against the railroad tracks, and on through the 20th Century.
What is astounding, given the rapid industrialization of so many other agricultural crops, is that mechanical corn harvesters weren’t invented until about 20 years ago, according to Andy Talbott, vice president of sales and marketing for OXBO International, which manufactures vegetable harvesters.
Labor was still plentiful enough that farmers didn’t really need machines, Talbott said.
“There still is a pretty high percentage of sweet corn that is harvested by hand,” he said. “Some large producers in the South, the ones that fill the grocery story shelves in the winter time, still harvest by hand. You get a big truck with a conveyor and 12 people are out front stripping ears and throwing it in the truck. The reason a lot of people continue to do it that way is that they only rent the ground. All they own is a pickup truck.”
Talbott, who grew up in western New York and now is in Wisconsin, remembers the days of hand picking, as do the Pahls and most adults from corn-growing communities.
“When I was growing up, I picked corn and there was a ready supply of kids,” Talbott said. “Now people don’t want to do that anymore.”
The machine harvesters replaced the need for as many hands, but the cost of the machine, from $30,000 to more than $200,000, has its own economic toll. What the harvester does offer is a larger number of ears picked, Talbott said.
“If you take a herd of kids through the field they are not going to pick every ear. They get tired and they start throwing around the ears at each other,” he said, laughing with the voice of experience.
But the industry still requires some hand labor.
During the Pahls’ harvest last year, about 40 people worked the conveyor belt that moved harvested corn from a Dumpster-like container that Brian Pahl filled every 20 minutes. The crew, a mixture of Hispanic migrant workers and Hmong women, broke the shank off the ears, sorted the corn by size and packed it into burlap sacks marked with Yukon Gold potato labels.
Out of the field, into the can
The other way sweet corn ends up on the kitchen table is as kernels, either canned or frozen. The growing process is the same, according to Bill Schmidt, head of contract manufacturing for General Mills, which produces the Green Giant label.
After the corn has reached the company’s desired sweetness level, Schmidt said, it is hauled to the factory and mechanically separated from husk and cob.
Schmidt explained why commercial corn kernels are a perfect shape. The industry has developed a standard cutter that senses exactly where the kernel meets the cob and slices it cleanly. A water bath floats away any bits of silk and husk that still cling.
A much messier way to get at the corn is plain old gnawing.
Back in Olivia, Mayor Bill Miller brought a dozen ears to The Sheep Shedde, the town’s largest restaurant, and had the chef cook up the just-picked cobs of Peaches ‘N Cream. The corn was as soft, juicy and sweet as could be hoped for, perfection on a cob even without smears of butter or a short shake of salt.
When the platter was empty of cobs, as people discreetly picked at their teeth, Miller recalled how, during World War II, German POWs worked in the canning plant outside of town, turning out plain and cream-style kernels.
“I could go back to when I was 8 or 9 years old, when we used to pull tassels by hand for 15 to 20 cents an hour,” Miller said. “It seemed like we always had sweet corn around.” And, he noted with satisfaction, “It was good sweet corn.”
As if there were any other kind.
Beyond the sweet stuff
There is more than one kind of corn out there. Here are some varieties and their uses, according to the National Corn Growers Association:
Dent corn: The majority of the corn grown in the United States is dent. Its uses include animal feed and ethanol.
Popcorn: Its hard shell pops when heated.
Specific-trait corn: Includes blue corn, nutritionally dense corn and high-oil corn.
Decorative corn: Indian corn often is sold in the fall for use in table arrangements.
Sweet corn: Corn on the cob, canned and frozen corn and other edible corn.
— K.E
Buying, storing and cooking corn
Here are some tips from “Corn,” by Olwen Woodier (Storey, $12.95).
– When purchasing corn on the cob, look for tight, bright green husks that have been kept cool. The stem should be fresh and moist, not yellowed and dry.
– The kernels at the top should be plump, medium-size, close together and shiny.
– Store unshucked corn in the refrigerator, wrapped in damp paper towels and enclosed in a plastic bag. If corn is kept at room temperature, the sugar quickly turns to starch. Refrigerated, unshucked corn will stay fresh and crisp for two to three days.
– Many of today’s corn varieties are so sweet, they can be eaten raw. For cooking, drop ears of corn into a large pot of boiling water and cook only 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
— K.E.
