Today I froze 22 pints of sweet corn. So here is another “how-to”!
Sweet corn is the one thing Gene helps me with. He usually pulls it and helps me shuck. Once we get it to the house he disappears fast! But that is ok. I figure at this point I am half done! Here we are in action….Sweet corn is ready to pick when the tassel on the end of the ear is dark brown and the ear drops slightly away from the stalk.
Practice makes perfect and you will soon master the art. As you are learning you can pull the shuck (leaves) covering the ear back just enough to see. But remember you are opening the ear for bugs and worms.
After the corn is pulled, we find a spot in the shade and shuck the ears.
Then we toss the shucks over the fence to the curious cows to eat. They love it and it doesn’t take them long to figure out that they are getting a special treat.
They always say “run to the house” with the corn. The point of this statement is that you want to do sweet corn as fast as you can to retain optimum flavor and freshness.
I wash the corn under running water at the laundry sink, rubbing each ear to remove the remaining silk and trim off any wormy spots. I stack the corn on trays and it is ready to begin the last step of the process. When I get to this point I figure I am half done.
Freezing sweet corn is easy and does not require many utensils. I use a sharp knife, tongs for removing the corn from the hot water, a large spoon for filling my freezer boxes and a corn cutter.
I put corn into a pot of boiling water and bring it back to a boil for about 1 minute. My pot holds 10-15 ears, depending on the size of the ears.
I remove the corn with the tongs and put into a dishpan of water in the sink.
After cooling in this water a few minutes, I transfer the ears to the other side of the sink into ice water. The reason I use tap water is simply to cool the corn some before putting into the ice water. It helps to save the ice.
After the corn has cooled several minutes I put it on a tray and it is ready to cut off the cob.
My large roasting pan is perfect for my corn cutter. I quickly run the corn over the blade, removing the corn from the cob. This handy tool makes cutting corn sooooooooooooo easy!
You can set the blade to “cream” the corn, cut it off “whole” kernel or my preference a mix of the two.
Then I spoon it into freezer boxes or freezer ziplock bags. I write the year on the top of the lids and it is ready for the freezer.
Today I picked three 5-gallon buckets of corn and it yielded 22 pints plus we had corn on the cob for supper.
If you prefer you can freeze the ears whole after it is blanched and cooled. I do not like to do this as it takes up unnecessary space in the freezer.
The cobs I toss into a 5-gallon bucket and take back to the garden where I will till them back into the soil, returning nutrients and natural humus back to the soil.
As you can see the bucket is sitting on a chair to make it an easier height. I also put a towels over the chair and table as it makes clean up so much easier. Corn does splatter and it is sticky. One helpful hint for those of you who do not wash dirty dishes immediately. Do your dishes as soon as you are done or you will have twice the work on your hands.
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We sell corn cutters in our store -Hertzler Farm and Feed. You may order a cutter by calling Hertzlers at 804-598-4021
Wood is $9.99 (plus shipping)
Stainless Steel is $12.99 (plus shipping) -This is my favorite and you can put it in the dishwasher.
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For more information on planting and growing corn check out my website Corn.htm
