It’s only around for a short time each year and simply cannot be missed. He’s done this for us for over 20 years. Each taste lives up to the first.
His bicolor corn is picked in the morning and can land in your order that same day. When it’s that fresh, the sugar content is higher and the kernels snap, bursting with flavor. It’ll steal the show in any soup or stir-fry. But if you ask us, the best way to eat it is straight off the cob.
The Altobelli family has worked the same land in Kinderhook, NY since 1956. When John took over from his grandfather in the 1980s, he converted the land from orchards to vegetable fields and built a reputation as one of the region’s most dedicated growers. He took a particular liking to sweet corn—and so did his growing base of food-obsessed customers. These days, roughly 70% of the Altobellis’ land is devoted to the tall, gorgeous stalks.
“I started planting vegetables and I was pretty good at it. As time progressed, I started raising more and more. Sweet corn was my favorite. We pick corn first thing in the morning, we pack it out, put it on our trucks, and by the afternoon, it’s at FreshDirect.”
— John Altobelli
In addition to corn, you’ll find his tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and pumpkins on FreshDirect. He still drives them down to us in his truck—and these days, not many farmers personally deliver their goods to grocers. That kind of care sums up our partnership: growing the best-tasting produce, doing it responsibly, and delivering it to you at its peak. It’s exactly why we’ve stuck with him this long.
As a member of the Cornell Committee, John is tuned in to the latest developments in best-practice agriculture and is always keen to maintain the quality of his land and improve the quality of his products. He and his wife Becky, who helps manage the farm, are devoted to responsible agriculture. They protect their land by practicing zone tillage, or allowing alternating strips of land to rest and rejuvenate each year), and by using as few pesticides as possible.
During the all-too-short season when Altobelli corn is around in late summer and early fall, you’ll find us preparing it every which way possible at FreshDirect. It brings pops of sweetness to stir fries, amps up the flavor of cornbread and other baked goods, and harmonizes beautifully in chowders and soups. But if you ask us, there’s no better way to eat it than straight off the cob, basking in its pure, unadulterated taste.
We recently visited John and his wife Becky at their farm in Kinderhook, NY. The land is sprawling, with fields densely populated by tall stalks of corn rustling in the wind. We even got to taste corn immediately after it was picked, when it has a sweet, crisp juiciness that you can only experience at the source.
