salgud
There's a big difference in quality between the big national name brand frozen vegetables and the supermarket/generic products (especially with corn)... were they the same the consumer would not be willing to pay the greater price.
Not only possible that's exactly the case. Frozen corn from the big name packers is harvested, shucked, stripped, and processed entirely mechanically, all in the field, less than one hour from harvest to flash frozen.... plus they constantly test their corn electronically so it's harvested at the peak of readiness. They also spend a LOT of dollars researching the best type of corn and growing methods, and processing methods. No-name corn is hit and miss, bought from various small local growers, all mixed together and processed the old fashioned way at small processing plants... by the time it's shipped and processed it's no longer fresh, nor are very scientific methods relied upon for growing, harvesting, and processing... there's little to no consistancy, it's all hit and miss.
Supermarket corn on the cob is at least a week old, probably more... even local farm stand corn is many hours old at it's best but typically 1-2 days since picked... and then who knows how many days the consumer has it hanging around until they get-to-it.
I'll agree that if you can get locally grown corn on the cob that's rebuttonably freshly harvested then that is best for eating off the cob but then it's specifically of a type grown to be eaten off the cob, not well suited to be used stripped from the cob. If you want corn niblets to use in a recipe no corn is consistantly better than the big name brand frozen niblets. Most years I grow some corn myself... it tastes wonderful easten off the cob because I grew it myself and I was all ready to cook it and eat it before I picked it... but for recipes needing niblets stripped from the cob it's not nearly as good as Birdseye.
Sheldon
