Mirai Corn Seed Collection

All Your Favorite Gourmet Treats!

By far the sweetest-tasting corn ever grown, and also the most tender!

Genus: Zea
Species: mays var. rugosa
Variety: Mirai
Item Form: Seeds
Days to Maturity: 76
Fruit Color: White
Habit: Upright
Plant Height: 7 ft
Fruit Length: 7 in – 8 in
Additional Characteristics: Direct Sow,?Edible
Light Requirements: Full Sun
Resistance: Rust,?Stewart’s Wilt
Soil Tolerance: Normal,? loamy
Uses: Cuisine

Its name means “the future is almost here,” but once you taste your first bite of Mirai? Corn, you’ll know that’s wrong — the future IS here, and its name is Mirai! This ultra-supersweet corn is so sugary and succulent that it gives new meaning to the term “caramel corn”!

The story of this corn’s wild popularity is incredible. It was bred on the Ahrens family farm in Illinois by J. David Mackenzie, a plantsman from Cornell University. As the economy worsened for family farms in the early 1990s, the Ahrenses hired Mackenzie to research new strains of sweet corn for market use. When he discovered Mirai?, he was really just trying to create a more disease-resistant variety. But one taste changed all that.

At first, the new corn didn’t seem marketable. It needs to be hand-picked, which ruled out production by the huge commercial farms in the U.S. So Mackenzie introduced it instead to Japan, where small “boutique” farms are common, and many crops are still picked by hand. Within a few years Mirai? had become the bestselling sweet corn in Japan, capturing an amazing 35% of the market from all other varieties! In fact, its name (pronounced me-RYE) is Japanese, and in addition to meaning “the future is almost here,” it also means, “taste”! (Talk about the perfect name!)

Once small American farms and roadside produce operations heard of Mirai’s success in Japan (where it made headlines), everyone wanted the seed. But until now, the breeders have wisely released only a small amount of seed, continuing to test and trial it. The results have been spectacular — and those farmers’ markets lucky enough to grow Mirai? have been besieged by long lines all season long! It’s not uncommon for folks to drive 100 miles or more to wait in line for Mirai? — and it is especially popular with older corn-lovers, because it is so gentle on the teeth or dentures.

Needless to say, we are delighted to make this remarkable corn available from seed to our Park gardeners! This collection contains 100 seeds each of 3 color varieties: yellow, white, and bicolor.