This is going to sound really silly, but here goes...
Since I haven't gotten as far in my projects as I would like, this year we again allowed our back field to be used by a somewhat local farmer. He planted corn, which is now close to mature. I wasn't here when he planted, and have no way to contact him, so I have no idea what kind of corn it is.
How do you tell the difference between sweet or edible corn and feed corn?
I know this is from farming 101, but I never had that experience.
Gregg
Remember - If I sound like I know nothing about farming it's because I really don't!
Gregg, there are lots of different varieties of corn, but in my opinion nearly any of them make good eating if picked while they're still young and tender. I've eaten a lot of "roastin' ears" of field corn and know some folks who really prefer it instead of the sweeter varieties.
Greg, Let me share a childhood memory. I guess it was around 1950 hybrid varieties of field corn arrived in Mid. Tn. Funks G 711 was the first variety I remember. Prior to this we planted open pollenated corn eg., Hickory King, Truckers Favorite, etc. are varieties that come to mind. We always shelled corn and took it to the gristmill to have it ground for cornmeal for cornbread for the family. We tried the new hybrid corn for cornbread and it was terrible. In the future we planted the hybrid for our livestock but kept the Hickory King for our cornmeal. With respect to telling the difference between field corn and sweet corn. Generally the stalk is larger, taller and diameter, on the field corn. The ears and grain are also generally larger on the field corn. I would suspect that the corn you are talking about is field corn since sweet corn is more of a specialty crop grown by fewer farmers. Suggest you sample a few ears for yourself.
TK
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