Sweet Corn

Sweet corn

Sweet corn, also called sweetcorn, sugar corn, pole corn, or simply corn is a variety of corn (maize) grown for human consumption with a relatively high sugar content.

Sweetness

Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugar. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, and sugar alcohols. Some are sweet at very low concentrations, allowing their use as non-caloric sugar substitutes. Such non-sugar sweeteners include saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and stevia. Other compounds, such as miraculin, may alter perception of sweetness itself.

Maize

Maize, also known as corn, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern commercial varieties, these are usually yellow or white; other varieties can be of many colors. Maize was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture.

Maize (color)

The shade maize or corn refers to a specific tone of yellow; it is named for the cereal of the same name—maize. In public usage, maize can be applied to a variety of shades, ranging from light yellow to a dark shade that borders on orange, since the color of maize may vary.

sweet corn

Noun

1. Any of many varieties of corn (specifically maize) most suitable for eating by humans, as distinguished from corn raised as animal feed; usually with higher sugar content than field corn.