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It
is recommendable to harvest sweet corn in the early morning. Immediately
after the harvest, the corn should be cooled down, best to 0 degree,
in order to slow down the metabolism in the grains, i. e. to slow
down the transformation of sugar into starch. Normal sweet varieties
can be stored at 5° for aprox. one week. However, their sugar content
is then not much higher than that of freshly harvested field corn,
which some consumer may get "directly".
Extra
sweet sugar corn varieties can be stored distinctly longer, and
even after a longer marketing period their flavour remains sweeter.
For
larger areas and when a suitable marketing partner is at hand, sweet
corn can be marketed over a period of 10 days with the help of a
vacuum or hydro cooling system. In this case, the cooling chain
with aprox. 5 - 8° must be maintained by the corresponding retail
shop. Directly sowed crops without row covers are usually harvested
from mid of August until beginning of September (see chapter "Extension
of the harvest period").
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