Fresh Hungarian sweet corn is delicious both baked and boiled

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The product intended for the fresh market is mainly produced by small producers, typically in areas of 0.5-1 hectare. In order to be able to appear on the market as soon as possible with sweet corn, in some places it is also grown under foil. Thanks to this, the first shipments can appear in stores at the end of May, beginning of June. This is followed by seeded corn, which is now used in more and more farms. Thanks to the use of different cultivation methods and scheduled sowing, producers can supply the domestic market with fresh sweet corn from the end of May to the beginning of October.

The sweet corn available here comes almost exclusively from domestic cultivation, the proportion of imports is negligible

In addition to the so-called chuhés corn, the vegetable is now also available frozen and cleaned in foil packaging at individual retailers. According to the overview of the National Chamber of Agriculture and the Hungarian Fruit and Vegetable Association (FruitVeB), this year the weather was especially favorable for sweet corn cultivation in Hungary, so farmers expect a good harvest. Domestic sweet corn production is at the forefront of the world, we compete with China and the United States of America. Within the EU, Hungary has the largest sweet corn production area. Our country’s climatic and soil properties are excellent for the production of sweet corn, which, together with the high level of cultivation technology and the technical and technological level of the processing industry, guarantees good yields and excellent quality. Almost 24,000 hectares of sweet corn are grown here, 90 percent of the land is irrigated. A significant part of the harvest is processed by the canning industry.

Sweet corn’s taste is primarily determined by its sugar content, which is the highest in its tender, so-called milk-ripened state

Accordingly, following market trends, super-sweet varieties gradually spread over the past decade, and are now dominant in Hungarian cultivation as well. Sweet corn can be used cooked as a side dish or to supplement side dishes, grilled with other grilled vegetables, pickled with other vegetables; but it is also a very popular addition to salads. It is mostly available in canned and frozen form in stores, but the pre-cooked vacuum-packed delicacy is becoming more and more popular in our country. Sweet corn has a significant nutritional value, in addition to its excellent flavors, it also provides a lot of energy. It contains 3-4 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 8-12 mg of vitamin C, as well as iron, phosphorus, carotene and lime per hundred grams.

NAK/FruitWeb