Here it is mid-October and I still see fresh sweet corn in the husk at the supermarket for fifty cents an ear. It was just two bits back in the spring, but seasonal pricing is not the point here. The point is there is corn-still-on-the-cob for boiling for nigh on half the year. It used to be you had to raise your own or bought it from somebody close by who did. And sweet corn season was from mid-June to sometime over in July. Granted, this store-bought late season corn was raised way off somewhere. And the taste is not quite as good as good as from your own garden or the local farmers’ market. But the fact one of the most perishable of fresh vegetables can still be had at decent quality this time of year is something once not doable. And the reason is not supply and demand, better refrigeration or bigger stores. It is a result of mankind manipulating plant genetics in the constant search for ways to feed ourselves.
Sweet corn genes are a fun topic for some of us, but I won’t bore you for long. Briefly, the older favorite sweet corn varieties get their sweetness from a gene labeled “su”. And the rule for these varieties was always go straight from the garden to the pot because they lost sweetness quickly as sugar converted to starch after picking. Back in the 70’s some plant guy found a sweeter gene in corn and dubbed it “se” for “sugar enhanced.” Then others came upon a still sweeter gene they called “sh2” for “shrunken” because the kernels dried all wrinkly. By cross-pollinating among the su, se and sh2 corns, a bunch of new sweet corn varieties have been created. The more su and sh2 genetics in a variety, the slower kernel sugar turns to starch. That’s why modern sweet corns keep longer for shipping and in the store. The knock on the newer “supersweets” is they are not as creamy as the pure “su” old types. Thus there are purists among us who will only boil up Merit and Delta Queen varieties of sweet corn.
Through planned out trial-and-error mixing of plant genes, we have also reduced the time it takes cotton to mature, created smaller bermudagrass for golf greens, increased rice yields, added rose colors that used to not be, dwarfed most anything of your choosing and made hot peppers hotter. In my humble opinion, the most important genetic trait enhanced with centuries of plant crossbreeding is a plant’s ability to withstand specific microscopic pathogens, i.e. plant diseases.
Even without our help, nature does things like cross-pollinating wild pears in Asia into one seed that migrated to America and grew into a heavy-blooming symmetrical beauty that adorns many landscapes. Somebody named the brittle, ice storm-and-firelight-loving former fruit tree Bradford, but I digress. The whole point is most of the plants we grow now for food and fiber and just to enjoy have become genetically better with human help.
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Terry Rector writes for the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District, 601-636-7679 ext. 3.