Corn Sweet Corn

Give me a helping of corn on my plate, some corn chowder, or even scalloped corn and I'll politely refuse.  Give me a small kernelled, butter and sugar, steaming hot piece of sweet corn dripping with butter and salt and it's full steam ahead for me.  WTH....I really think the deciding factor is the butter and salt but for whatever reason, it seems to appear on our table nightly..when we eat at home at least. We have great fun watching the fields across the road from planting to harvesting and every year we say we're going to grow our own "next year."  It probably isn't gonna happen....especially seeing as we seldom get around to picking weeds in the flowerbeds and we bitch daily about having to feed and water the chickens.  It's all fun until you have to do it!!!  It appears there's a lot more to not only growing the crop but also the purchasing, cooking and consuming it.  Here's a short primer on "Knowing your corn."
There are 3 categories of sweet corn:  Standard, sugar-enhanced and super-sweet corn! 
*   Standard converts to starch quickly so should be eaten soon after picking... varieties are: Country Gentlemen, Silver Queen (one of my favs) and White Magic.
*   Sugar-enhanced  have a higher content of of sugar and can be eaten several days after picking.  You'll find these varieties at Farmer's Markets:  Temptation, Silver King and Argent.
*   Super Sweet-corn maintains a very high sugar content for 8-10 days after picking and usually ends up in grocery stores and cans! These would be Devotion, Tahoe and 81W, 372A and 378A.  Personally I'd much rather nibble on Silver King than # 81W.
Now that you know the varieties to search for, here are a few pointers on choosing just the right ears... They should be plump, lots of silk and tightly wrapped husks. I have traditionally not been drawn to anything that wasn't wrapped too tight, I like silk and I can, in my old age, deal with plump!!! When you get him home, I mean it, slightly dampen a paper towel and rub it from top to bottom...this will remove the silk _______!!!( and anything else it might be wearing...) By that time, it should practically cook itself:-)  remember, "it's usually the heat that makes it sweet!" (unless, of course, it shrivels first..and yes, I speak from experience!
And most of all... if it's "knee high (or low) by the 4th of July, it's gonna be a great summer!!!