Don't pull back the husk in store because it dries the corn out quicker, an industry manager says. Photo: 123RF
An unseasonably cold and wet spring in Gisborne has delayed corn harvests, one of the country's largest sweet corn producers says.
LeaderBrand's general manager of farming, Gordon McPhail, said La Nina conditions meant the corn crops have been growing in consistent rainfall and cooler temperatures than typical for this time of year, delaying harvests by a week.
"At LeaderBrand, we pride ourselves on our sweet corn grown right here in Gizzy," he said.
"The sun and soil are perfectly aligned to grow, what we believe is, the best corn available.
"This spring has brought us some challenges with a lot of rain.
"However, the last couple of weeks has seen the weather settle down a bit and we've had enough hours of sunshine just in time for harvesting our first crop of corn later this week."
McPhail did not expect the delayed harvest would result in smaller yields.
"Once the sweet corn has reached maturity, it's time to harvest.
"We don't use machines here. Every cob is hand-picked and packed to make sure that we've delivering the highest quality corn to your supermarket.
"Every crate is checked by our team before it leaves the field."
Last year more than 1.1 million corn on the cob were sold in the fortnight before Christmas, or an estimated 57 ears of sweet corn every second.
McPhail said it was an exciting and busy time for staff.
"It's tough on the guys that work here, because they're busy working hard while everyone else is in celebration mode.
"That's always the challenge that we have as a business, but it's something we do every year and it's something that the team really loves, particularly the first three or four weeks of corn is always really exciting, so we get quite excited when we start corn and get into it.
"A great tip for checking the freshness of the corn is to look for a cob that has a tight green husk and dark silk as well as being rounder and fatter at the ends," he said.
"We don't recommend pulling back the husk in store as that dries out the cob quicker."
McPhail said LeaderBrand sweet corn will be in local supermarkets from Monday 12 December.
