# Tiny corn cobs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570 "2004-08-26T06:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/1 "2004-08-26T06:12:02Z")
While enjoying some pickled baby corn cobs, I decided I’d like to try my own pickle recipe. However, I’ve never seen these little cobs for sale anywhere. I assume it’s a rather rare strain of corn, but have never seen them for sale. Anyone know how to get some? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/2 "2004-08-26T06:20:02Z")
[Washington State University Ag Research website](http://agsyst.wsu.edu/babycorn98.htm) Looks like they just pick standard corn cobs early in the season, before they’re pollinated. Not a rare strain at all. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/3 "2004-08-26T07:00:30Z")
The Perfect Master radiates [Is “baby corn” really baby corn?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbabycor.html) ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/4 "2004-08-26T07:28:13Z")
So I can just plant corn and pick it early? Makes sense, but never seen it other than in a pickled state. (Much like me) 😉 If it’s that damn easy I’m gonna feel like an an idiot. (Don’t worry, I’ve gotten used to the feeling in other threads) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/5 "2004-08-26T08:05:00Z")
Baby corn is widelay available here; people use it a lot in stir-frying and other oriental recipes. The plants themselves are nothing particularly different from ordinary sweetcorn; the cobs are just picked at a very immature stage - for the home grower, this is hugely wasteful, since sweetcorn plants take up a fair bit of space, crop only once and only produce a few cobs per plant, regardless of what stage you pick them (unlike, say, French beans, which produce pods over a longer period and will in fact produce more if they are picked continually) I believe there are cultivated varieties of corn that have been developed specifically for immature harvest; I’d like to think that these have been bred specifically to produce a large number of cobs per stalk, but I’m not sure if that’s actually the case. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/6 "2012-04-01T21:16:00Z")
Corn Zombie! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/7 "2012-04-01T21:24:15Z")
zombie or no corny or no they are right next to the baby carrots in the baby food section. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-corn-cobs/261570/8 "2012-04-02T11:54:24Z")
Pickled baby corns remind me of that scene in Big where Tom Hanks is in that wild ruffled tuxedo and looks at the baby corn he gets, and nibbles it from side to side like a regular cob.