Harvesting & Storage of Baby Corn: Food Market Exchange - B2B e-marketplace for the food industry

How to Harvest Baby Corn

•The most appropriate time for harvesting baby corn is when baby corn silk comes out 1-2 centimeters from the top end of ears, or when the plant is 45-50 days old. When possible, harvesting should be carried out in the morning, when the corn's moisture content is highest and product and ambient temperatures are low.

•Reap ears on top first, then those below. A baby corn plant produces 3-4 ears. When farmers pluck baby corn ears, the stem should be altogether plucked away so that farmers will know which trees are not reaped yet.

•Harvest crops every day in order to prevent baby corn from being overripe.

•In case of using unfamiliar baby corn varieties, farmers should get to know what length of silk indicates the most appropriate harvesting time by taking ears with different length of silk, and looking inside. Baby corn varieties have different lifetime ranging from 40 to 60 days.

•It is suggested that farmers reap 2 ears per tree. The third should be left as it is usually defective, and does not reach export standards. Timely harvesting is the most crucial thing in baby corn cultivation. Quality of produce largely depends on this stage of cultivation. For instance, late harvests illustrated by too long silk coming out from ears result in a too big baby corn size undesirable to processing plants and traders.

As for harvesting methods, farmers should twist or snap ears away. Next, put them in containers like baskets, bags, sacks. They should be kept in places with good ventilation, and should not be heaped or they will easily become rotten. Normally,a harvesting period lasts 10-12 days, except in the case of Golden Baby harvesting, which lasts 8 to 10 days. On average, there will 800-1,000 kilograms of baby corn in husk per rai, or 100-175 kilograms of husked baby corn per rai. However, productivity is also influenced by different baby corn varieties, seasons, and ways of cultivation.