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Vegetables

Sweet corn

Zea mays Saccharata GroupAlso called Zea mays Saccharata Group, pole corn and sugar corn

Sweet corn is a variety of maize that cooks treat as a vegetable. It can be eaten raw, boiled, simmered, grilled, or steamed, and pairs with beans, milk, butter, and salt. It is sold fresh, canned, and frozen.

  • Plant-based
  • Gluten-free
  • No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category
Vegetables
Variety of
Maize
Family
Poaceae
Cooked most in
Asia
Top country
Indonesia
Sweet corn, whole

Photo: Susan Slater · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use sweet corn

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Boil simmer
  • Grill
  • Raw
  • Steam

Preparing it

Remove the husk and silk before boiling; removal is not always necessary before roasting.

Cooking with it

For su cultivars, cook within 30 minutes of harvest for the best result.

Goes well with

Shopping

Choosing and storing sweet corn

Sold as
Canned, Fresh, Frozen

Nutrition

What 100 g of sweet corn holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 15%Fat 9%Carbohydrate 77%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of sweet corn, raw
Energy85 kcal · 360 kJ
Protein2.8 g
Fat1.6 g
of which saturated0.33 g
Carbohydrate15 g
of which sugars7.4 g
Fibre2.4 g
Sodium0 mg
Cholesterol0 mg
Nutrition per 100 g of sweet corn, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium237 mg
Calcium0.66 mg
Iron0.39 mg
Magnesium26 mg
Zinc0.56 mg
Vitamin C6.8 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)9 µg
Folate42 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (foods 169998, 2710826), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where sweet corn is cooked

2 dishes in the catalogue use sweet corn. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list sweet corn among their ingredients.

Origins

  1. 1779

    Iroquois growers produced the first recorded sweet corn for European settlers.

  2. The 1800s · United States

    Open-pollinated white sweet corn became widely available in the United States.

On the table

Dishes made with sweet corn

2 dishes in the catalogue use it.

  • Sayur asem

    Indonesia

  • Corn fritter

    Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include sweet corn.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: sweet corn in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Family

Related forms

A kind of
maize
A variety of
maize

Around the world

What sweet corn is called

Names in 46 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    maíz dulce · Maiz dulce

  • French

    maïs doux · Mais doux

  • Italian

    Zea mays Saccharata Group · mais dolce

  • Portuguese

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • German

    Zuckermais · Süssmais · Süßmais · Zea mays saccharata

  • Dutch

    suikermaïs · Suikermais · Zea mays convar. saccharata

  • Russian

    сахарная кукуруза · Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Polish

    kukurydza cukrowa

  • Arabic

    ذرة شامية حلوة · الذرة الحلوة · الذرة الشامية الحلوة · ذرة حلوة

  • Persian

    ذرت شیرین

  • Hebrew

    תירס המתוק

  • Urdu

    save

Show all 46 languages

  • Albanian

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Aragonese

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Asturian

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Basque

    Arto gozo

  • Brazilian Portuguese

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Bulgarian

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Catalan

    dacsa dolça · blat de moro dolç · panís dolç · moresc dolç

  • Cebuano

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Chinese

    甜玉米

  • Egyptian Arabic

    ذره حلوه

  • Esperanto

    sukermaizo

  • Extremaduran

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Finnish

    sokerimaissi

  • Galician

    Millo doce

  • Georgian

    შაქრის სიმინდი

  • Hungarian

    csemegekukorica · Zea mays · Zea mays var. saccharata · Csemege kukorica

  • Ido

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Inari Sami

    sukkârmaissâ

  • Indonesian

    Jagung manis

  • Interlingua

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Interlingue

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Irish

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Javanese

    Jagung manis

  • Korean

    사탕옥수수

  • Latin

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Lithuanian

    Saldieji kukurūzai

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    sukkermais

  • Occitan

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Pampanga

    Maiz

  • Romanian

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Swiss High German

    Zuckermais

  • Ukrainian

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Vietnamese

    Ngô ngọt · Ngô đường · Bắp đường · Bắp ngọt

  • Volapük

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Waray

    Zea mays Saccharata Group

  • Zulu

    Ummbila omnandi

Sources and credits

Data

Wikidata item: Q18966

Photos

Photo: Susan Slater · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons