Sweetcorn: How can you tell they're ripe?

As mentioned in my previous post, I took a fairly heavy handed approach to checking my sweetcorn and just pulled one of the cobs off the stalk. Having researched this further, I found a useful article at examiner.com. This article gives some useful tips on when your sweetcorn should be ripe. Apparently, the silk coming out the top should be brown. A few days after this happens, the sweetcorn should be ripe. Other indicators are plump kernels that give out a translucent milky fluid when pressed. If it's thick and white, it's overripe.

All well and good, but surely that means pulling off the cob? Apparently not. What you can do is just pull some of the husk away and carry out your tests. If you find the corn is not yet ripe, you can simply put everything back where it was and secure it with a rubber band.

As you may be able to tell by the lack of photos in these recent posts, I'm on the road with limited internet access, so I haven't been near my veg patch all week (sob!). However, I'll be back tomorrow morning - wellies on, fork in hand, so I will report back with my findings as soon as I get back to my glorious mud.