Eating field corn

Just had some field corn for lunch, Man was it good! I picked it just at the right time too.

work like a horse,eat like a horse,lol.

OK I have to ask?  I know that sweet corn is sweet corn, and field corn is for the animals, grind, feed, etc.  BUT how do you tell them apart?  I never did know!  Can you tell by looking?

Dad told that when he was young (probably in early 1930's), someone gave him and his brother some field corn seed.  They planted it, and when it was ready, they picked it and took it to a local restaurant and sold it to them.  They loved it and bought for several days until they found out it was field corn, then got real upset with Dad and his brother and refused to buy any more, even though the customers had loved it up to that point.  I've neve had any myself.  How do you know when it's ready for eating, same as sweet corn??

Dad always liked field corn better than sweet corn , in fact when we went fishing he would keep a eye on the field corn silks. When time was right the feast was on.

Coke-in-MN wrote: Dad always liked field corn better than sweet corn , in fact when we went fishing he would keep a eye on the field corn silks. When time was right the feast was on.  I tried it a few years back but was late on my timing , toughest corn i ever tried to eat. Wife said never again ..  Hmm might have to check the field over the south fence , looks about ready .

it's ready the day before the coons get it

Edited by JoeO(CMO) - 24 Jul 2010 at 7:58pm

Don(MO) wrote: Coke-in-MN wrote: Dad always liked field corn better than sweet corn , in fact when we went fishing he would keep a eye on the field corn silks. When time was right the feast was on.  I tried it a few years back but was late on my timing , toughest corn i ever tried to eat. Wife said never again ..  Hmm might have to check the field over the south fence , looks about ready . Coke, Look at the silks as they start to turn look inside and pop a kennel or two to see if they pop. Don

OK Don, help me out here. What am I looking for when you day watch the silk turn, and what do you mean about popping kernel? This is new to me, I didn't know field corn was edible

Eldon (WA) wrote: Coons like sweet corn...leave field corn alone. That has got to tell ya something. Our field corn was also a lot hairier??? than the sweet corn. Sorry guys, I'll wait a couple more weeks for the good stuff!

We stopped planting sweet corn this year because the little (pore word choice) coons got in it last year! The evil little things and all there friends got it all in one night. So I just when for the field corn this year So there mister coon lost out this year at my place. LMAO

We used to eat field corn all the time when I was a kid. Eldon, the coons like field corn just like sweet corn around here.

Timing is everything guys.You have to get it early.Field corn gets mature fast.Good thing about field corn is there is so much of it.No two fields were planted at same time so we would keep an eye out on neighbors fields.It was an unwritten rule around our area that the end rows were open game.Don't know how that would go over today.My dad would keep a couple families in our area aware of fields that were ready.I can remember going out before lunch and seeing people picking field corn for lunch.
I still eat field corn,but like Bi color sweet corn so much better.Real Butter,salt and one of those long skinny tubs for rolling the ear in the butter.Yum Yum !!!
Any body grill ear corn? I found that soaking the ear in the husk for 1/2 hr.Then wrapping wet ear in foil and placing on hot grill 30 min.is best way to keep moisture in and steams corn good.Sucks taking hot wet husks off but is best way to grill corn I have found.

some people plant their sweet corn so that it is surrounded by field corn

Sweet Corn does not create as much consumer interest at East Texas  Farmers Markets as Field Corn does. 9 out of 10 corn buyers ask for "Roastin Ears" which is Field Corn. They are not buying it to eat "Corn on the Cob". They shuck it and cut the tips off the kernals and scrape the milk and soft pulp into a frying pan of grease and fry it. This is where the term "Creamed Corn" must have started. I have not tried it fixed this way but folks who do claim it is "the best eatin ever". I planted some "Pencil Cob" and "Truckers Favorite" Yellow and White for the fall market. It's up about a foot tall and needing rain. When it gets ready along about October I will give it a try. Plain old "Yellow Dent" is another favorite for frying. I think the trick is catching it in the "JUST RIGHT" cream stage when you pick field corn for table use.  Sweet Corn seed prices have gone out of sight. The Hybrids are now sold by the M seed. You can still get open pollenated "roastin ear" seed for a buck a pound.  Makes great corn meal too.

I can't argue about field corn. We always grew a few rows of it to run the running butterbeans on.(man, those are good!) We usually cut the field corn off the cob to make creamed corn. We canned some and ate a lot fresh. Excellent fried in some fatback grease. We always grew Silver Queen for our sweet corn. Was better to us than Merit. My brother stumbled onto a hybrid a couple of years ago. Called Bodacious. Not a very big ear, and little stalks don't hardly get 5' tall, but it may be some of the best corn i've ever tried! If you like sweet corn, this is the way to go. It's not overly sweet like you may be thinking, it's just right, and the texture was perfect. Nice and crunchy without being hard, even when it's a little past "just right". I already got dad to order a couple of pounds for me for next year.

Don - I saw the coons tried out a bit of my field corn when I was brushogging around the edges yesterday.  They didn't knock down too much.   Mine was past good eating stage as it was planted in late April.  We used to eat field corn as a kid.   My Dad called it "roasting ears".  It was pretty good.  I'll have to try it again sometime when I happen to be back at the right time to pick some. 

My sweet corn patch (and my other garden patch) look like a hayfield.  Trying to plant any garden stuff and stay ahead of the weeds when you are 140 miles away and get out at best every 3 weeks doesn't work well.  I did pick up a tiller from Adam that will help with cultivating rows....NEXT YEAR.  I hope I still get some pumpkins out of the mix.  I did see I had some good gourd type squash growing...that's about it. 

At least I got a gallon of black raspberries and a gallon and a half of blackberries earlier in the season.  Mike


Edited by Skyhighballoon(MO) - 25 Jul 2010 at 10:04pm