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There are other veggies where the taste/texture varies depending upon their age. Off the top of my head, take zucchini - I love young zucchini squash picked when it is very small and slender, sauteed in a pan with garlic and butter, maybe with some onion too.
But if I forget to check my garden carefully, and they grow to the size of small baseball bats under the leaves, the skin on those older ones is tough and impossible to chew, while the inside is all mealy and soft. So while I might still use the inside for something like zucchini bread, where texture isn't important, I sure wouldn't slice it thin to saute and expect it to taste like the smaller young ones do (and the skin on those is not only thin and tasty but has a velvety feel to me when I pick them).
Field corn was a main part of your diet around here and we also refer to it as "horse" corn due to the large kernels that remind you of look'n a horse in the mouth.
Growing up in the 50's & 60's in Alabama & Mississippi, my mother and grandmother made "Fried Corn" using field corn not sweet corn. To me it was the best corn and I couldn't get enough. It was quite a process to prepare and cook. I recall my grandmother would slit the kernel and scrape the fresh corn of the ears into a large pan. She would then fry the corn in an iron skillet.
These days it is almost impossible to find as all the farmers in the southeast seem to grow only sweet corn. I see from the internet that field corn is still growth more than than sweet corn but is a used for animal feed and fuel instead of human consumption.
Does anyone know where I could purchase filed corn in Georgia?
I ate it once thinking it was sweet corn (ill-gotten gains). We have tons of it here in the Midwest and let's just say it has to be prepared properly or it's an acquired taste, especially when you're expecting to bite into an ear of sweet corn.
Have you tried asking at feed stores or your local UGA extension office? They might be able to give you some names of local suppliers.
We had a corn canning factory in our little town while I was growing up and no one that I know of would have considered eating field corn.
My husband's farming family used to eat it when it was young.
I had some last February in Mexico though and it was slathered in mayo, cotilla cheese, cayenne pepper and a squeeze of lime and other than needing major flossing when I was done I had no complaints. Yummy.
Sweet corn is what is grown for people to eat fresh. Field corn is much starchier, and is grown to feed animals, and to grind into meal, and it is mostly dried.
I don't think they aren't making corn sweeter and sweeter today. If anything, I think that may be an illusion, because I remember as a child we bought sweet corn at a farmer's market that was picked that morning, and it was like candy. Today you can't buy that kind. It was so sweet it had to be eaten right away before it turned moldy. That doesn't work for grocery stores, where it can take several days just to get it to the store.
Oh, I disagree. A lot of the new "super sweet" hybrids are nothing but sugary sweet. Silver queen is an older variety that isn't quite as sweet. The new corn is also bred in such a way as that the sugar doesn't turn to starch the way it used to. I remember the Laura's Kitchen cookbook had a description of cooking corn: Get your water ready, have it boiling, run to the garden, pick the corn, run to the kitchen, husking all the while and drop the corn as fast as possible into the pot of boiling water. That isn't really the case nowadays with newer varieties.
To the OP, I'm guessing some of the seed companies still sell a corn not so intended for eating "green". Especially an heirloom seed company.
I was served an overcooked ear of mature field corn, and it was starchy, pasty, and flavorless. I would love to taste "properly cooked" field corn to see if it can be made palatable.
BTW - the family that served me this field corn told me that the "sweet corn" was reserved for feeding the farm animals.
When my DH was stationed in Ft. Lewis , WA in the Sixties I had the job of calling the Dependent Youth Activities parents to organize an annual picnic. Some of them were assigned to bring sweet corn.
I couldn't believe the number of people who didn't know what sweet corn was. They would ask, "Is that some special way of preparing corn?"
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mouth.
Field Corn
We have tons of it here in the Midwest and let's just say it has to be prepared properly or it's an acquired taste, especially when you're expecting to bite into an ear of sweet corn.
