stevez wrote:I bought some Miri corn at Twin Gardens Far on Sunday. Ears cooked (boiled) for ~7 minutes were perfect. Ears cooked for 15 minutes were overly mushy. This corn does not have to be cooked very long at all...especially if it is farm fresh.

Does anyone know if Twin Gardens Farm is still selling corn this year? I tried calling to ask, but there was a problem with their phone line.

stevez wrote:Does anyone know if Twin Gardens Farm is still selling corn this year? I tried calling to ask, but there was a problem with their phone line.

Bought some from TGF two days ago at the 87th Street market.

I have come to learn that virtually all of the corn being sold these days in these parts comes from TGF Mirai seeds. Including Dominicks and most of the vendors at area farmers markets.

Kennyz wrote:I have come to learn that virtually all of the corn being sold these days in these parts comes from TGF Mirai seeds. Including Dominicks and most of the vendors at area farmers markets.

Maybe so, but I'm actually going to be near the farm tomorrow and I'm hoiping to pick some more up at the source.

from the corn I have tasted lately, & I live in corn country, I think corn season is sadly over for the year, Mirai or not.

A grower shows up at the Burr Ridge Farmer's Market - Thursday mornings each week -with Mirai; six ears for $4, which seems pretty reasonable. Says it will be available for at least a couple more weeks.

He says that the ears will keep two weeks, refrigerated, and he'll replace any that don't. Haven't had the patience to test that so far this summer.

yes..saw them at Northbrook farmers market last wed and they be in Roselle as usual today

jimswside wrote:from the corn I have tasted lately, & I live in corn country, I think corn season is sadly over for the year, Mirai or not.

have you tried Mirai? maybe the corn by you is but have to disagree on Mirai being over for the year

Just served up Mirai corn to the family for the first time. They loved it. I prepared it the down & dirty way as usual. Wrap the ears in paper towels, wet them down & use fresh vegetbale setting of the microwave. I have a huge sweet tooth & this was almost too sweet. Like when someone would put sugar into the corn pudding.

I would buy it again, but it was not inexpensive. I purchased it at Daly Plaza's market on Thursday. I got 12 ears for $7.50. I guess it's still cheaper than 12 Snickers bars so I will do it again.

Thanks for the information.

I picked up 12 ears of Mirai corn at Twin Gardens Farms today for $6. They had bogth bi-color as well as yellow. The yellow was decidedly better looking. They said that they would be open at that location and still have corn for at least two more weeks. We also got some picked-to-order* edamame that they will begin selling at the various farmers markets in the next couple of weeks.

* The farmer had an entire soybean plant in his hand, which he was showing to the staff. When we told him that we had driven out from Chicago and probably wouldn't be able to come back next week when they were going to start selling edamame in bags, he hand picked the plant clean and gave us the soybeans as a sample.

We got some Mirai corn earlier this summer at the farmer's market on Armitage. My experience was that it was "emperor's new clothes." We followed the directions (not overcooking). Now, maybe this was a little too early in the summer or something, but the most I can say is that the corn did have a different "flavor profile"--it certainly did, there was no mistaking that--but not a better one. It could be my taste buds are just not picking up on whatever is making everyone rave, but the Mirai corn, despite its different flavor, fell into the same overall category as every other ear of corn I've had in the last several years--i.e., nowhere near the wonderfulness of the corn-on-the-cob of my youth. Was corn just better forty and fifty years ago than it is now, no matter where you get it from? Or have my "corn sensor" taste buds withered with age? Or am I just imagining corn used to taste better, in the way we all can falsely glorify the past?

riddlemay wrote:We got some Mirai corn earlier this summer at the farmer's market on Armitage. My experience was that it was "emperor's new clothes." We followed the directions (not overcooking). Now, maybe this was a little too early in the summer or something, but the most I can say is that the corn did have a different "flavor profile"--it certainly did, there was no mistaking that--but not a better one. It could be my taste buds are just not picking up on whatever is making everyone rave, but the Mirai corn, despite its different flavor, fell into the same overall category as every other ear of corn I've had in the last several years--i.e., nowhere near the wonderfulness of the corn-on-the-cob of my youth. Was corn just better forty and fifty years ago than it is now, no matter where you get it from? Or have my "corn sensor" taste buds withered with age? Or am I just imagining corn used to taste better, in the way we all can falsely glorify the past?

I don't know, but my husband is the 1st to pronounce any food as lackluster in an"off with their heads" kind of way. This morning, after he came back to bed from fishing before dawn, the first words out of his mouth were must have more corn! It was weird to hear a man, who generally grunts "coffee" as his 1st words upon awakening scream about the need for corn.


HUSBAND UPDATE: Had Mirai corn at lunch again- RIGHT TASTY!!!

We've been getting Marai corn for 3 years now we used to drive out to harvard but they are many french markets now Go on there website and it lists all the markets theyre at Its the best!!

cheeze1 wrote:We've been getting Marai corn for 3 years now we used to drive out to harvard but they are many french markets now Go on there website and it lists all the markets theyre at Its the best!!

note: that list on the website is merely where Twin Garden sells its Mirai. As noted above, there are many, many other places that sell Mirai corn. In Chicago these days, it may be harder to find non-Mirai corn than it is to find Mirai corn.

I picked up the Mirai corn at the Geneva French market, open only 9-1 on Sundays. Several of my chef friends are on this bandwagon but I agree with the Emperor's New Clothes assessment. While it was good, in all honesty, I believe the best and sweetest corn I have had was from Nichols farm at the Evanston market last weekend.

Cinnamon Girl wrote:I picked up the Mirai corn at the Geneva French market, open only 9-1 on Sundays. Several of my chef friends are on this bandwagon but I agree with the Emperor's New Clothes assessment. While it was good, in all honesty, I believe the best and sweetest corn I have had was from Nichols farm at the Evanston market last weekend.

Do you think the Nichols Farm corn is of Miri seed stock as Kenny Z seems to think?

stevez wrote:

Cinnamon Girl wrote:I picked up the Mirai corn at the Geneva French market, open only 9-1 on Sundays. Several of my chef friends are on this bandwagon but I agree with the Emperor's New Clothes assessment. While it was good, in all honesty, I believe the best and sweetest corn I have had was from Nichols farm at the Evanston market last weekend.

Do you think the Nichols Farm corn is of Miri seed stock as Kenny Z seems to think?

When I picked up corn from Nichols on Tuesday at the MCA Market I'm confident the sign said Mirai. The only reason I bought it otherwise I would have waited until Thursday for the market at Daley where I first purchased this corn.

stevez wrote:

Cinnamon Girl wrote:I picked up the Mirai corn at the Geneva French market, open only 9-1 on Sundays. Several of my chef friends are on this bandwagon but I agree with the Emperor's New Clothes assessment. While it was good, in all honesty, I believe the best and sweetest corn I have had was from Nichols farm at the Evanston market last weekend.

Do you think the Nichols Farm corn is of Miri seed stock as Kenny Z seems to think?

Nicols definitely sells Mirai corn, but they do also grow other varieties, so hard to know without asking whether you're getting it at any given market.

Yes, I agree. The corn from Nichols at the Evanston market seemed to be much, much sweeter than the corn from Nichols at the Green City Market. It would be interesting to know how they work it or if you could figure out their system. BTW, the gladiolas at the Evanston market are beautiful and last a full week, compared to several days from the glads at GCM. The GCM does have the fresh donut vendor who also makes "hand pies" which are delicious deep fried dough filled with an assortment of fresh produce such as heirloom tomatoes and chicken, Yum.

It's here......
Mirai corn purchased today at the Schaumburg FM hitting the grill in 10, 9, 8, 7,....

When I was buying the corn from the Twin Garden Farms vendor at Long Grove Farmer's Market, the person said they sell two types of corn. One is hybrid and the other is yellow. He said that they sell the two varieties at the farmer's market. (They alternate between the two). He also said that he thought that the yellow variety was sweeter than the hybrid variety. I have not had the chance to compare the two side by side.

Hi- I bought some of their corn at the Wilmette farmer's market one year ago, and it was good, but I do not think it was worth what the farmer was charging for it. As I remember, I think it was something like 6 ears for $4, and it was already prepackaged, so you had to buy 6 ears at a time. I bought it from the corn breeder, and he told me that his corn was better than anybody else Mirai corn, which I find hard to believe. I know Nichols sell it at the Evanston market for less money, and you do not have to buy 6 at a time. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- I bought some of their corn at the Wilmette farmer's market two years ago, and it was good, but I do not think it was worth what the farmer was charging for it. As I remember, I think it was something like 6 ears for $5, and it was already prepackaged, so you had to buy 6 ears at a time. I bought it from the corn breeder, and he told me that his corn was better than anybody else Mirai corn, which I find hard to believe. I know Nichols sell it at the Evanston market for less money, and you do not have to buy 6 at a time. Hope this helps, Nancy

I have bought the Mirai Corn at both the Barrington Farmer's Market and the Long Grove Farmer's Market. At both places, it was $4 for 1 bag of 6 ears of corn or $7 for 2 bags. The corn was from Twin Garden Farms.

I plan to buy corn from Didier Farms and compare it against the Mirai corn. The Mirai corn seems to be a lot more expensive than corn from other farmstands.

We had a taste off of Mirai vs. Random Acres bi-color and the Mirai lost based on overall texture and flavor.
Not sure when the Mirai had been picked but the RA corn was picked on Thursday....

Hi- I bought some more mirai corn at the Evanston farmer's market yesterday from Nichols, and it was good, but nothing special. The kernels were larger, and more tender than regular corn. Nichols only sold mirai corn yesterday, and charged 50 cents an ear, or 12 for $5.

BTW- First Orchards was selling extra tender corn, and John First told me that all the corn labeled extra tender, comes from the same gene as the mirai. Hope this helps, Nancy

Glad I'm not the only one. I bought some at the Prudential Plaza market. Not only nothing special, but I think I may throw away the rest of the ears. I'd compare it to supermarket corn in the winter except that I never eat sweet corn except when I can get the local stuff from a farmers' market in the summer. Compared the the stuff I usually buy at the Oak Park market (the guys who sell all the corn on the inside southwest corner) it's not good at all. A marketing triumph rather than a flavor one?

They are selling the TGF Mirai corn at the Andersonville Farmer's Market Wednesday afternoons/evenings.

also available at Northbrook Farmers Market

Ann Fisher wrote:Glad I'm not the only one. I bought some at the Prudential Plaza market. Not only nothing special, but I think I may throw away the rest of the ears. I'd compare it to supermarket corn in the winter except that I never eat sweet corn except when I can get the local stuff from a farmers' market in the summer. Compared the the stuff I usually buy at the Oak Park market (the guys who sell all the corn on the inside southwest corner) it's not good at all. A marketing triumph rather than a flavor one?

I have never bought it (in bulk)due to the price.

I have had it twice at the Boone Co. Fair and it was not as good as some of the bi-color varieties around.

They are great marketers, especially among the "word of mouth" crowd and the local press.

I wanted to give a little love to Mirai since it's starting to take a beating here.

I guess to each his own, but I've not found an ear of corn that I prefer to Mirai corn. I usually get mine from Providence/Twin Acre Farms at the Huntley or the Woodstock Farmer's market. I do get other ears of sweet corn from other vendors but me, my wife and three year old son all prefer Mirai over all others since we discovered it 3 years ago. (OK, only this year has my son expressed a preference - more by amount eaten than verbally.)

The Mirai corn I get typically is a somewhat smaller ear than "standard" sweet corn and the kernels are typically smaller. I was a little surprised reading above where the kernels were described as larger. Maybe again it's something in the eye of the beholder.

My experience with Mirai is a nice crunchy ear of corn yet tender and more sweet than any other ear I have ever tried. I never cook an ear more than 5 minutes in water or 10 on the grill when in the husk and typically wrapped in foil. I don't like Mirai caremelized from grilling, but I do like to do that with other ears of sweet corn.

It is pricey in relative corn terms, but I think it's worth it.