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| Patty Landon of Landon's Sweet-Lovin' Corn |
First of all, it helps if you cook it the day it's been picked. Second, it needs to be kept cold. "If it's picked cold, it has a higher sugar content," she said. That's why their daily pickup load is harvested by hand (and by Norman) at 4 or 5 in the morning, then kept covered by a heavy tarp.
If you've got to keep corn for a day or two, keep it refrigerated and don't shuck it until you're ready to cook it.
This is the seventh year the Landons have parked their truck in late summer/early fall at the corner of First Street and North Holmes Avenue (their son, Allan, has another truck at Sunnyside and Hitt.
Idaho Falls has been good to them, and they usually sell out every day. "Canners will come by and buy 10 to 40 dozen ears," Landon said. "One person even bought 60 dozen."
Their price is $4 for a dozen ears. The two sweet corn varieties they prefer are serendipity and sugar buns, both best sellers at roadside stands across the nation. Serendipity produces bigger ears and sugar bun. Each have their own particular flavor.
Ironically, most of the corn grown in the Midwest is for feed or ethanol or corn syrup. Landon said her sons served LDS missions in Iowa and Missouri and begged her to send corn to them.
The Landons run a small operation, 100 acres they bought from her father, Arlo James Moss. They will be on the corner for as long as the corn holds out, but with the weather getting colder it's going to be a limited number of days. Like them on Facebook here.
