Golden Bantam Corn

Zea mays 'Golden Bantam'

vegetable

Golden Bantam is the heirloom that made yellow sweet corn popular in America - introduced in 1902 by Burpee, before which most sweet corn was white. It is an open-pollinated standard (su) variety, so you can save seed, and it delivers the rich, old-fashioned corn flavor many gardeners prize over modern hybrids. Compact 5 to 6 ft stalks bear 5 to 7 in. ears of deep golden kernels in about 80 days. The su sugars convert to starch quickly after picking, so Golden Bantam is a get-it-to-the-pot-fast corn - the reward is unmatched traditional flavor.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Beans — Climb the stalks and fix nitrogen for the heavy-feeding corn in the Three Sisters tradition
• Squash — Broad leaves shade the soil, block weeds, and keep corn roots cool
• Cucumber — Uses the ground layer and tolerates the corns dappled shade
• Pumpkin — Sprawling prickly vines mulch the bed and help deter raccoons

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Corn earworm →

  Apply a few drops of mineral oil or Bt to each silk a few days after silking to stop larvae entering the ear tip

• European corn borer →

  Clear and destroy stalks after harvest to remove overwintering borers; Bt in the whorl helps against early feeding

• Raccoons →

  Use a two-wire electric fence or surround the block with prickly squash vines as ears ripen

• Flea beetles →

  Cover seedlings with row cover; the beetles can spread bacterial wilt to young plants

• Fall armyworm →

  Scout the whorl for ragged feeding and treat small larvae with Bt

🌾 Harvest & storage

Golden Bantam is ready about 18 to 21 days after silking, when silks are brown and the ears feel plump to the tip. Use the thumbnail test - kernel juice should run milky. Because this is a standard su corn, its sugar turns to starch within hours of picking, so harvest right before cooking for the best flavor. Pick by twisting the ear sharply downward, and refrigerate immediately if you cannot cook it at once.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Golden Bantam offers the standard sweet-corn package: energy-giving complex carbohydrates and fiber, B vitamins led by thiamin and folate, vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium, at about 86 calories per 100 g. Its deep golden kernels are a good source of the eye-protective carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. As a quick-to-starch heirloom, it is at its nutritional and flavor peak eaten straight from the garden.