SeasonSort Week of Sep 4 · updated Fri

Sweet Corn

Peak season in the Midwest · down 5% this week

$0.39 /ear

This week

↓5%

Vs last week

Calories/serv

3 g

Protein/serv

Seasonality of sweet corn

This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from June through September, and is generally in stores from May through October. This week it's peak season in the Midwest — buying it in season usually means better quality and, as the regional prices below show, a lower price.

Nutrition · per 90g serving

Calories

3 g

Protein

16.8 g

Carbs

1.3 g

Fat

1.8 g

Fiber

Per a typical 90g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Corn, sweet, yellow, raw).

Cheapest sweet corn this week, by region

Buying sweet corn in the Midwest saves about 35% versus the Northwest this week.

Buying sweet corn

How to pick a good one: Look for husks that are green and snug rather than dry and straw-coloured, with silk that is golden and slightly sticky, not black and brittle. Feel through the husk for kernels running all the way to the tip. Do not strip the husk back in the store — it is the corn’s own packaging.
What a good price looks like: In peak summer, corn in the Midwest and Southeast routinely runs 25 to 50 cents an ear, and the loss-leader ads go to four or five for a dollar. Anything under 40 cents is a genuinely good price and worth buying in volume. Above about 80 cents you are paying freight on out-of-region corn, and frozen kernels are both cheaper and better.
What you actually get: One medium ear gives about three-quarters of a cup of kernels, roughly 125 g. Four ears make enough for a salad or a batch of fritters for four. Around 60% of what you carry home by weight is cob and husk, which is why per-ear pricing is the honest way to compare it against a bag of frozen.

Storing and cooking sweet corn

How to store it: Corn converts sugar to starch from the moment it is picked, and warmth speeds that up. Refrigerate it in the husk as soon as you get home and eat it within two or three days. If you cannot, cut the kernels off and freeze them.
In the kitchen: To strip kernels without them firing across the room, stand the shucked ear in the centre of a large bowl, stem end down, and run the knife down the sides. Cut shallow — about two-thirds of the kernel depth — then scrape the cob with the back of the knife for the sweet, milky base. For grilling, leave the husk on and soak the ears for ten minutes; the husk steams the kernels while the outside chars.
Getting the most out of it: Peak-season corn needs about four minutes in boiling water and nothing else. When it is cheap, cut kernels off raw for salads and salsa, or char whole ears on a grill. The stripped cobs make a genuinely good stock for chowder.

Cook with Sweet Corn · cheapest dishes first

See all 597 recipes with sweet corn →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.

Price from the USDA National Retail Report. Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.

Sweet Corn — FAQ

When can you buy sweet corn in season?

This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from June through September, and is generally in stores from May through October. This week the Midwest has sweet corn marked peak season.

What's the price of sweet corn right now?

As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of sweet corn in the Midwest is $0.39/ear, down 5% from last week.

How many calories and how much protein are in sweet corn?

A typical 90g serving of sweet corn has about 77 calories, 3g protein, 16.8g carbohydrates, 1.3g fat, and 1.8g fiber, per USDA FoodData Central.

What can I make with sweet corn?

SeasonSort indexes 597 recipes that use sweet corn, each with its cost per serving computed from this week's prices — starting from about $0.16 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.