Some Corny Questions

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with a couple of corn varieties? My first questions are about Double Red sweet corn:
1. Is it red in the sweet stage or only red at seed maturity?
2. Does it have the same concerns for seed saving that Carol Deppe mentions in regards to her Cascade Ruby Gold flint variety in that one should not select deeply red ears but rather medium red as the deep red indicates a double dose of the gene for that color that is also indicative of other genetic problems (smaller ears, weaker plants?)?

We've been growing Zdrowie flint corn and would like to find an earlier flint corn that shares some of its traits - deep orange, tastes great for cornmeal and hominy, VERY sturdy stalks (stays standing even with gusts over 50 mph). What we don't like about it, besides being quite late, is its extreme height (11-12') and lack of husk coverage on tips of most ears. So my questions about flint are:
1. Variety suggestions for a substitute?
2. Anyone with experience of Longfellow flint or Otto File?
3. Zdrowie is supposed to be a high beta-carotene variety. I've read that only South American varieties really deliver on this attribute - true or false?

Thanks for any info on any of these questions!

I don't have anything to say about named varieties of corn, but here's a photo of the high carotene corn that I grow.

Nice looking corn, Joseph. What are the parents of your corn? How long to maturity? How tall is the plant and how strong are the stalks? Cob size?

wapsi valley does great for us. ready to harvest in september from late may planting in PA. delicious mostly yellow ears with a couple of red ones here and there.

Larisa Walk wrote:Nice looking corn, Joseph. What are the parents of your corn? How long to maturity? How tall is the plant and how strong are the stalks? Cob size?

The ancestry contains hundreds of varieties from across north and south America. The orange color came from Cateto, a south american variety.

It's about a 90 day corn.

Plants 8 to 10 feet tall. Stalks have been selected for resistance to coon predation, so very strong.

Cob size is around 8" and about 14 rows.

With direct sowing 4a Gatineau mountains, the only one that consistently delivers is Dakota Black Popcorn from a small local seed supplier.

Painted mountain corn…..iffin you like cornbread

Early Riser flint is quite early for me. I believe it was developed in Vermont.