The first consignment of a new breed of organic sweetcorn said to be so sweet and tender it's best eaten raw has almost sold out. Of 1,000 cobs Golden Sweetcorn distributed to retail stores in the New Territories on Friday, 950 had been sold by yesterday at $3 each. Another batch of the corn, imported from Taiwan and grown at an organic farm in Sheung Shui run jointly by the government and the Vegetable Marketing Organisation, will go on sale in two weeks. In the meantime, small amounts are being grown by farmers under a drive towards new crops and sustainable agriculture. 'Local farmers have sold 150 cobs already, which is not bad at all,' said Geoffrey Man, a spokesman for the Vegetable Marketing Organisation, 'As long as the farmers keep growing this new corn, we'll continue to help them sell it.' Seed for the corn has been distributed to various farms across the New Territories, including Chinetek Organic Farm, Hong's Farm and New Life Farm. 'Customers like to eat our corn raw as it's especially sweet uncooked,' said Fung Ming-hong, owner of Hong's Farm, 'They don't have to worry about pesticides any more because it's organic.' Edward Chan, owner of Chinetek Agro Consultant, believes consumers are craving for an alternative. Until now, only two main types of corn were offered in Hong Kong: one highly fibrous but not sweet, and one very sweet but of no nutritional value. 'Golden Sweetcorn is a combination of these two corns, both sweet and nutritional,' Mr Chan said. 'People have been eating the same corn for too long, I'm confident that people will accept this new corn.'
