Be careful dear. That doesn't look very safe.

I was doing some research on the internet earlier today when I came across a 'Grow Your Own' style website / forum.

As always with the internet in general, it contained some very good advice along with the not-so-good, the bad and the downright bloody dangerous!

On this occasion some of the 'members' were advising one visitor to take a pan of boiling water into the garden so that sweet-corn could be put straight into the pan immediately after picking.

This 'advice' apparently came from some idiot woman on TV and - allegedly - prevents the sweet-corn from deteriorating as the sugars - allegedly once again - instantly start turning into starch as soon as it's picked.


There are several things wrong with this of course.

First, the idea that garden produce immediately starts deteriorating the moment it's harvested is complete nonsense. Much of it actually continues to ripen.

Second, no matter how small your garden by the time you get to the plant, remove the cob and strip the leaves off, the one thing you can be sure of is the water won't be boiling anymore.

But far more importantly, carrying a pan of boiling water around a garden is nothing less than sheer bloody lunacy! While covering the pan will probably stop it from slopping over the sides, nothing is going to stop it spilling if you trip over something. If you're lucky you may simply kill a patch of grass or a few plants.


The 'advice' given by other 'members' wasn't quite so deranged suggesting that the sweet-corn should be picked and the leaves stripped while running towards the kitchen where the cob should be plunged into a pan of boiling water.

There was also one member who suggested picking and eating it raw directly from the plant which I suppose might be ok if you haven't used any chemicals such as fertilisers or insecticides etc.

Or the local wildlife hasn't shit on it in passing.