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| Kerry Waves Corn, Bush Eats It Raw | |||
| 2004-08-06 | |||
| DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - Competing for votes in corn-growing Iowa, John Kerry waved to crowds with one ear in each hand. Not to be outdone by his Democratic rival, President Bush ate one raw. Cultivating the corn vote is serious business in the battleground Midwestern state, where the rival presidential candidates converged on Wednesday. Bush lost the state to Democrat Al Gore in 2000 by just 4,144 votes, or roughly two votes for every precinct. Polls show the 2004 race is another dead heat. Iowa is the No. 1 corn-producing state in the nation, and Bush and Kerry are campaigning here with promises to help the state's farmers. Kerry declared his enthusiasm for corn by sticking his head out the window of his campaign bus. He waved both hands with corn.
After their simultaneous rallies in Davenport in eastern Iowa, Bush stopped at a farmer's market in nearby Bettendorf and bought some ears of sweet corn. The president took a bite of one on the spot. "Oh yeah. You don't even have to cook it. It's really good," Bush declared.
Raw corn is typically fed to livestock, but Irvin Anderson, a professor of corn physiology and biochemistry at Iowa State University, said some people liked it raw. "Most people will boil it and put butter on it. But you can eat it off the cob raw. It has a sweet taste to it," he said.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #23 well, if she looks like the LOL indian maiden, I've got a butter churn |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-06 10:40:42 PM |
| #22 Now we can make whiskey! We've been waiting hundreds of years for this! -Firesign Theatre |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-08-06 10:19:02 PM |
| #21 Go corn! Go corn! Go corn! Go corn! Where's the damn corn! Go corn! |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2004-08-06 7:41:44 PM |
| #20 Land o' Lakes Lady is a fraud. |
| Posted by: Mother Nature 2004-08-06 7:25:51 PM |
| #19 I think #17 is trying to let us know that she's a "native American".....knowing full well that, THERE IS NO SUCH THING!! |
| Posted by: Halfass Pete 2004-08-06 6:05:54 PM |
| #18 ...we called it Maize. You're not the Land O Lakes Lady, dammit, you're the Mazola Margarine Lady! As Dave Barry said, "Does she mean her people at the ad agency, or her people at the margarine company?" We used to eat field corn sometimes when I was a kid. It was OK when it's fresh-picked. It's not as good as sweet corn, but with enough butter and salt it doesn't matter. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-08-06 5:15:20 PM |
| #17 ...we called it Maize. |
| Posted by: Land O Lakes Lady 2004-08-06 4:21:50 PM |
| #16 Yank - now there's a contest I'd pay good money to see! :-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-08-06 4:01:13 PM |
| #15 I think Bush would not only know which peppers to pick and pop, I'd be he could pick the hottest one and eat it without crying or blaming his secret service guys. |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-06 3:35:32 PM |
| #14 Perhaps the President can lure his rival into a pepper popping match in New Mexico.... I would expect the Pres would have way better info about which ones to pick and pop. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-08-06 3:14:11 PM |
| #13 Well, now I know more about corn than any other Silicon Valley guy. And now I am jonesing for it. Better go to safeway and pick some ears up for dinner. |
| Posted by: penguin 2004-08-06 3:06:57 PM |
| #12 My mom was real big on home canned corn. We used to go out and get 12 dozen ears of sweet corn, haul it home and start shucking. We would shuck the corn, then seperate the kernels from the cob (using a knife - none of that wussy corn-cobber shait) into a big pan and bake it for 20 mins with butter. Then stuff it in jars, and pressure cook it for 90 mins at 10lbs. We would have two large pressure cookers running at the same time and it would be damn hot in that kitchen! But the result would be so good. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-08-06 2:58:21 PM |
| #11 I’m waiting until they head over to South Carolina with all those pig farms. Will Kerry try to one-up Bush by eating one raw? Or will Bush challenge Kerry to a pickled pigs feet eating contest? I don’t want to even think what the bet will be in San Francisco! Kerry will probably marry his running mate to cement the gay vote! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-08-06 1:44:45 PM |
| #10 Craig, thanks for the corn info. It's good for us Rantburgers to read some info not on the WOT from time to time. My friends get nervous when I start reciting al-Qaeda org charts to them. Plus now we know who ask about popcorn the next time Fatah starts bumping off Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade bigs... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-08-06 1:44:03 PM |
| #9 Awesome, Craig! I didn'tknow about the hand-picked part, didn't know it was common to have the machinery to separate kernals on the fly for field corn, nor that the time factor was that important! I'll be more appreciative of America's largesse the next time I stop at a roadside stand or go on safari to the Farmer's Market. Cool! You're the RB Pro, IMHO! Thanks! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-06 1:20:03 PM |
| #8 .com- Field corn is grown in much greater amount, huge fields with the amount of labor per acre already very low and dropping every year as the machinery gets bigger and bigger. It is picked by machine and shelled right off the cob by the same machine, so all that is hauled around is the net weight of the kernels themselves. Sweet corn is picked by hand and all the excess weight of the husk and cob has to be transported as well. I'm sure the big component is labor- you end up getting a bushel of field corn kernels with a net weight of around 34 lbs (IIRC) for as low as $2. Sweet corn even here in the center of corn country costs around $2.50 for a dozen ears which might yield 2-3 pounds of net kernels. The other big issue is perishability. Sweet corn is best picked and cooked within a few hours, the sugar in it is continually degrading into starch with each passing hour. Field corn is picked when it is almost dry, and usually further dried for optimum storage. The stuff can last for literally years if handled and properly kept. WOW! That is way too much info on corn, I really do need to get a life. LOL. |
| Posted by: Craig 2004-08-06 1:03:47 PM |
| #7 Field corn is grown mainly for feed for livestock. People prefer sweet corn for the reasons mentioned above, in another post. I've eaten many an ear of sweet corn "raw" out in the field. It's NOT raw when you pick it off the stalk. It's simply not heated up. I also eat tomatoes straight off the vine, believe it or not! GWB has obviously been around corn growing in the field before and knows how sweet and juicy it is. IT IS SO GOOD!! I can think of 2 reasons why field corn is cheaper than sweet corn. 1. Field corn grows 8+ feet tall, thereby yielding many more "ears" per acre. Sweet corn grows only 5 to 6 feet tall, (fewer ears per acre). 2. Humans, "the people with all the money", buy sweet corn, because it's so much better for "people" to eat. I don't like to eat field corn....too dry. |
| Posted by: Halfass Pete 2004-08-06 12:54:57 PM |
| #6 Craig - Hey, bro - good post! I'm not a farmer, but when I was a kid there were periods when we grew our own corn, potatoes, tomatos, squash, melons... One thing you said has me puzzled: "field corn is much cheaper" Why? Is it just cuz the seed is cheaper? Less fertilizing / watering? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-06 11:13:49 AM |
| #5 There's more than corn in Indiana... er, Iowa. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-08-06 11:08:18 AM |
| #4 Happy Days are Here Again! After he waved the corn from the window, did they pull out their secret haute gourmet box lunches, again? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-06 11:07:15 AM |
| #3 The "raw corn" fed to livestock is field corn not sweet corn which is specifically grown for human consumption. Field corn has more starch than sugar, large kernels, very large ears and low water content, sweet corn has the opposite features. Field corn dries out nicely (for storage without spoiling)with little shrinkage, if you dry out sweet corn the kernels end up quite tiny. Of course livestock would eat sweet corn, but they do not often get it, as field corn is much cheaper! Forgive me but I live in Iowa, and such details are very important to us here. Corn, corn, corn, and maybe a few acres of soybeans. It is very corny out here! |
| Posted by: Craig 2004-08-06 11:00:03 AM |
| #2 ...Irvin Anderson, a professor of corn physiology and biochemistry at Iowa State University, said some people liked it raw. "Most people will boil it and put butter on it. But you can eat it off the cob raw. It has a sweet taste to it," he said. Weeeeeellll, doggies! Good thang they found them a perfesser to 'splain it to 'em. No ordinary person woulda known that. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-08-06 10:57:56 AM |
| #1 What they don't say is that while Kerry and Bush were preoccupying the police, THREE banks were robbed. Not a joke, the two presidential candidates, out of the whole country, ended up in Davenport IA mere blocks from eachother, and while police handled security/traffic three banks were robbed. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-08-06 10:47:45 AM |
