Blog

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

No summer is complete without having corn on the cob with at least a few meals. Luckily for us, getting fresh sweet corn is so easy here in Arizona, as we grow lots of it from as early as May to as late as September! Besides being incredibly delicious, corn offers some pretty great nutritional benefits as well!

One cup of sweet corn kernels, which is about the same as one large ear of corn has around 125 calories. It also offers a good amount of fiber, which is an important nutrient that many people don’t get enough of in their diets. Corn also is a good source of potassium which helps to regulate blood pressure. Additionally, it is also a good source of vitamins A and C, thiamine, and certain phytonutrients, and is high in antioxidants.

In addition to those nutritional facts about sweet corn, here are a few other fun facts about this amazing crop:

• Sweet corn is the 3^rd most important crop in the world
• There is one strand of silk per kernel on an ear of corn
• The average ear of corn has anywhere from 500 to 1000 kernels
• There are many family farms here in Arizona that grow lots of sweet corn each year!

Since we grow so much sweet corn here in Arizona, its easy to get your hands on some of this delicious summer staple! For some great recipes that use sweet corn, or for more information on where to find locally grown sweet corn, check out all of the resources available on the Fill Your Plate website!