FREEZER CORN

If there is anything I’ve learned over the years I’ve been preserving food at home its this: Everyone does things differently. But, when done correctly, the results will be the same, delicious, garden fresh food right from your own pantry or freezer.

When I first started freezing food at home, I was taught by way of putting corn up while still on the cob. I never liked the way this tasted when I would cook and serve it. So I gave up for a while, then my sister-in-law taught me her method of freezing sweet corn, and she promised me it would taste just like the day I made it when I cooked some up. And guess what, she wasn’t kidding! This is my favorite method of freezing corn, and now I’m sharing it with you!

Before we get into the method, lets first talk a little bit about varieties. There are a lot of different types of sweet corn that go by many different names. There are white varieties such as Grandma’s Heirloom, How Sweet It Is, and Silver King. Next, you have yellow varieties, some of the most popular are Kandy Korn, Golden Bantam, Honey Select, and Jubilee. Lastly, there is bi-color sweet corn, with both white and yellow kernels; these include Ambrosia, Nirvana, Peaches and Cream, and Picasso Hybrid. There are also a few variety that come in blues and reds like Blue Hopi and Ruby Queen. I’ve not personally had any of fancy colors, I’ve been a yellow, white, and bi-color corn girl. Maybe one of these days we will try some fancy colors! As far as these varieties go, you will find different size and shape kernels, but they all are similar in one way, they are sweet and delicious!

This year, we planted three varieties Ambrosia, Kandy Korn, and Peaches & Cream. As of this writing, our Peaches & Cream are not yet ready to harvest, but we have prepared and frozen all of the Ambrosia (1 row/ 3 dozen ears) and Kandy Korn (3 rows / 8 dozen ears). All of this corn yielded us 18 quart bags of Kandy Korn (2 cups per bag) and 10 quart bags (2 cups per bag) of Ambrosia. You may wonder why the math is weird, 8 dozen= 18 bags and 3 dozen= 10 bags…that’s because the ambrosia kernels are quite a bit larger than the Kandy Korn kernels, but I promise, it’s all delicous.

Once you pick your corn, you have to shuck and clean off the hairs. Then you bring that beautiful corn to the kitchen and rinse it down. I divide my corn into piles of 1 dozen ears, I then grab my corn cutting tool from Pampered Chef and start removing the kernels (a knife can be used for this). It is important that, no matter what tool you are using, that you don’t cut the kernels off too deep, this will render hard corn. Cut at about half way down the kernel, then, use the back of knife or cutting tool and rub down the cob to remove the milk from the remaining part of the kernel. Once all 12 ears are cut, I prepare my pan.

You don’t have to cook corn for very long, put 1 stick of butter in a large skillet and melt it. Once melted, add corn, about 1 cup of water and 1 tsp of salt (optional). Stir well and bring to a boil. reduce heat to medium and allow cook for 3 or 4 minutes, just until the corn wilts into the liquid. Remove from stove and pour into pan to cool. I cook several batches and bag it all at once.

I label my bags with the variety of corn and the month/year of processing. I set it aside so it can continue to cool completely before freezing. When placing bags in freezer, I lay them flat to allow more room in freezer for storing.

To prepare your corn, I take the frozen bag out of the freezer and run hot water over it to loosen the bag from the corn. I then open the bag and place the corn into a pot with 1/2 cup of water and cook until heated through, usually about 15 minutes. Corn is delicious and tastes just like summer in the middle of winter! Enjoy!