Well, honestly, no, I tried field corn and some heirloom corns a few years back, and they pretty much were horrible to my palate. I like the very sweet Sh2 corns and a couple of synergist hybrids, even one or two SE corns. But I'll leave the field corns for cornmeal from now on.

But I know a lot of people DO like non-sweet or barely sweet corn on the cob. Where my dad came from in Southern Illinois, so-called "roshin ears" (a corruption of the phrase 'roasting ears') were very popular even in the 1970s when I was a kid, farmers would sell them along the roadside from stands.

I don't miss it as I will not plant the new varieties that are cloyingly sweet and have no taste.

If a corn was not around twenty years ago, very small chance I will ever waste time on it.

If a corn whose flavor I really like is not sweet enough one can just add sugar to the boiling water.
I grew preferring the corn the way my mother did, late in the edible stage when it was nice and chewy.

RpR: yes, that old corn was 'chewy' & one had to really use the toothpicks after eating an ear of that roasted corn slathered with butter & salted! Younger people now days have no idea what that old corn really tasted like or what I am discribing as these new super sweet varieties have taken the place of those old ones. I do think the field corn picked & cooked when young comes close to what I remember though.

vieja,

I agree with you. I like 'corn' taste in my corn. I grew Bloody Butcher 2 years ago just for that corn taste and WOW!! Just plain do not like the sweets or super sweets. Old fashioned kinda 'nutty' flavor is what I am after. I roast my ears in oven -yum!!

DL

I grow Golden Bantam. My dad's favorite was always Country Gentleman. I don't like the super sweet corns either.

I eat my dent corn fresh off the cob, and not sweet is putting it mildly. I'd rather grow trucker's favorite or one like that but even that little bit of sugar brings on the skunks and coons like crazy and they are impossible for me to keep out.

I agree. One of my favorite childhood memories is eating fresh roasted (hot charcoal) field corn on the cob with salt, cayenne and lemon.

Please don't go to the trouble of growing corn and then microwave it! It kills all the good stuff. If you want to cook it in the husk it's easy to do on the grill. Open it up, take off the silks, slather in the fat of your choice (butter, olive oil), close up and put on the grill.

allhaileris:

No, I don't cook the corn in the microwave! I recently got an e-mail where this fellow places the cob of corn (leaves & all) in the microwave for 4 minutes an ear. When he removes the ear he slices off the blunt end & cob where the leaves are attached. He then grabs & pulls the silk end & leaves & the ear of corn comes out the cut end minus the silks! Anybody try this?

With the field corn though, I must keep a close watch on the ears or they will go past the edible stage & on to the dry field corn stage!

I use the microwave method on the modern sweet corn and find it's very good. Yes, the silks do come off completely with no problem at all. I really prefer corn that's just barely cooked so the 4 minutes is plenty for me, but you might want to put it in a pot of already boiling water for a few minutes if you rather have it more well done. The old varieties probably would be better if cooked a bit longer with some sugar in the water if they're not sweet enough for your taste.

About the only way one get some corn taste in the new corns is to eat it raw but there the old ones are still far, far better.
Sadly so many road side stands now sell the new cloyingly sweet corns and picked days earlier than they should be.

What is the deal with the popularity of the super-sweets? Like most here, I can't stand the stuff. Do most people like it or do most people not remember what corn-on-the-cob really tastes like?

"Sadly so many road side stands now sell the new cloyingly sweet corns and picked days earlier than they should be."

Yeah, that's all they sell around here too. There's usually a truckload every year at the(one)main intersection in this town(yes, we we have one traffic light, lol)and they only sell a super sweet bicolor(might be Peaches&Cream). Sucks because it's a good deal, but it's just too sweet for me.
I wonder what kind of corn is sold frozen in supermarkets? I almost prefer that to the super sweet stuff.

Maybe it is only we 'older' folks who can remember what the old 'non-sugar enhanced' sweet corn REALLY tasted like?! If only they could now taste the real 'corn' flavor of those days past!

Gotta go chec to see if my 'Trucker's Favorite' yellow has begun to tassle yet! Now I remember getting lost as a child in those Iowa cornfields when the stalks were way over my head! The stalks this year are HUGE and way over even my adult head even now!

Pat asks, "Do most people like it or do most people not remember what corn-on-the-cob really tastes like?"

I remember the corns from the early '40s on...like Golden Bantam, Country Gentleman, Stowell's Evergreen, Golden Cross Bantam, Carmelcross...........
Yeah, I remember them as not as tasty as more modern varieties.

We ate field corn and I loved it, in the 60's. I wish I could find the same thing now! I tried Trucker's Favorite and others but it's not the same, I don't want any sweetness.

What we ate had a number instead of a name. A hybrid. We grew 40+ acres to sell as feed stock, but we also ate and froze it when it was young. My Dad would scold me when I ate it raw. He told me it would give a tummy ache, never did. I think that was because he wanted to keep me picking corn!

I plant Merit now, it's an older breed and not real sweet. But actually too sweet for me!

I have also tried some of the field corn hybrids that are grown for feed stock, or is that stock feed? Dad always said feed stock.LOL It has to be watched closely. It seems that it will be good eating for only a day before it gets too starchy.

The other may have been the same. I remember Daddy would say "the corns ready". Mom would start water boiling grab knives, burlap sacks, and all of the kids. We would pick, shuck, and freeze until we were worn out. Momma and Daddy would still be working long after the kids went to bed.

We used to eat Hickory Cane if we could get it early enough.....usually just stopping by one of the neighbor's fields and picking some, with their permission. Mom made cream style corn with that, but she just called it corn off the cob. She didn't add any sugar, just lots of butter. It was not a sweet dish at all, but that's what I remember as corn taste. The new sweet corns taste like canned cream style corn to me, but it seems to just be me in the family. I grew Peaches and Cream last year and everyone but me loved it. I'm growing it again by popular demand, but I also put in some Silver Queen hoping it will be more to my taste.

Chuck

Your father was correct- feed stock- i.e. feed for stock, not stock for feed.
Sadly, especially due to television heads speaking with horrid grammar, the incorrect now dominates.

Of course such asinine items such as runned, swimmed, digged make me want to throw a can of corn at the television.

Of course, maize is not healthy feed for stock, but I guess that is another thread.

My Hickory King is a little too not-sweet for me. Golden Bantam would be perfect.

You guys can keep your field corn.Better yet send it down the road a few miles from here to the ethanol plant.My family wants the super sweets.Anything else and they would ask me...."whats wrong with the sweet corn?

I worked at Green Giant in the 60's.....ate tons of NK99 and Golden Jubilee.The new augmented corns beat them hands down.To each his own I guess.

I have eaten Green Giant corn since the early sixties, when people said they had a special type that made theirs best.
Last time was about four years ago.

It was good but the fact it was Green Giant I am sure influenced a few people.

How people can find the new cloyingly sweet corn better is a mystery as if they did not like that which was around for decades did they eat it then or not?

Oh goodness!! 'What a can of worms' I think I have opened regarding my preference for the 'old' less 'sweet' varieties of sweet corn!!! I guess it may be a matter of our genes as to which we prefer as there is a difference even in we of an older generation as to which we liked best!

Yes,I remember the field corn back then didn't have a name ... just a hybrid number & college kids could earn some money detassling the hybrid corn in the fields back then. Shumways catalog still has that hybrid corn seed for sale in their catalog as do nurseries in the farm areas around the State.. Yes, 'wertach' ... the field corn was edible for only a short period of time before it was no longer edible but still if picked at the right time it was SO good cooked in a pot of boiling water, slathered in butter with a salt shaker near by... oh, and a lot of toothpicks!!!

Haven't kept track of this site, but do the 'sugar inhanced variety people' outnumber the old corn flavor preference people now? ha

I'm one of the older generation and we ate field and sweet corn growing up. It was all good :-)

I find now that me and my family love, love, love the newer sweet corn much more than the old field corn. I'm just not into chewy anymore.

Val

Have to mention this..
on a trip back to Iowa our grown son saw mile after mile of fields of corn. He wondered how people could eat all that sweet corn? Being a city guy & never lived on a farm, he didn't realize most of those fields were of field corn & went to feed hogs, cattle & into grocery corn products. Never too old to learn something new!

Corn shouldn't taste like nutra-sweet, why nothing should save for poison. I'm growing Stowell's Evergreen again this year. Last year I grew it and to me it tasted like corn. Even my dog liked it. She loves everything out of the garden though. She is sleeping using my boots as a pillow. She's dreaming about more corn! Real CORN! I envy people with more land, sun, warmer climates. If I had my way I'd grow all the old varieties. These new varieties are the result of everything becoming sweeter, more colorful etc. Anyone re member when a Dorito was yellowish instead of bright red? Soda was sugary and potentially bad for you but didn't taste like poison. I can't even eat anything with corn syrup in it. It gives me a headache. It's poison. Monsanto should be deported to Antarctica.

You are sure right about that, William, except that Antarctica has got enough junk lying around already without a bunch of bio-tech lab equipment being added to it. Let's use Monsanto's immense profits to hire a bunch of space shuttles and send all their marvelous patents into the abyss of the cosmos.....

I grew out an F2 from Silver King X Cherokee Squaw this year and have had excellent sweet corn from it. I should have advanced generation seed available in limited quantities next year. The selected traits are:14 or more rows of kernels, high levels of "corn" flavor, high sweetness from the se gene, excellent stalk strength, and high tolerance to corn borers. I found exactly 1 corn borer in my corn so far this year and that one was only in the silks.

I grew Country Gentleman beside some Silver King this year and managed to get a few ears crossed. With a bit of luck, next year I will be growing out seed in an effort to stabilize an se version of Country Gentleman.

DarJones

Dar, how do you protect from varmints?

I grew up on a southern Illinois farm and we ate nothing but field corn. I didn't know what sweet corn was till I started gardening for myself as an adult. Now for corn-on-the-cob I won't eat anything but Silver Queen. But for cutting off the cob and freezing I use a standard yellow.

"Dar, how do you protect from varmints?"

An electric fence seems to be doing the trick for me.