Hurry! If you can find any last cobs of fresh corn at the market, buy them up! You will be so happy late this fall or winter when you have the kernels in your freezer.
Harness some squirrel energy and hoard the last flavors of summer! Tuck away berries, beans and corn so you can enjoy the flavors this winter. Though autumn is my favorite season, the summer flew by this year and I am feeling anxious about the cool air. We meant to buy a new upright freezer so I could store away loads of summer fruits and veggies but we never got around to it. Though I don’t have much room in my small freezer drawer, I have made space for a few bags of blueberries and some fresh corn.
If you can find sweet corn that is still good, buy a dozen. It is so easy to prepare it for the freezer. Shucking the corn is the most time consuming part. I unclothed my cobs on the porch so that all the “corn hair” could be easily swept away. (Does anyone have a fast, easy trick for getting every last thread off the cob?) Then, put the cobs in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Remove them and after they have cooled enough to handle, stand each cob on the end and holding the knife at an angle, cut the kernels off.
Make sure you get all of the delicious kernel off the cob but do not cut into the cob. To keep the corn from freezing in one big mass, you can spread the kernels on cookie sheets and freeze them for an hour or two before putting them in freezer bags.
When you are ready to thaw the corn, just put it in some warm water or boil it briefly until warm. The frozen corn is wonderful in chowder, corn bread or atop Mexican salads with black beans and cilantro dressing.
Buy corn. Shuck it. Boil it. Cut it. Freeze it. You’ll thank me this winter.
September 5th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
The best way to get the hair off the corn is to take a rubber band and loop it around your thumb and twist a few times then loop the other end around your index finger. Rub the rubber band down the corn. Very much like eyebrow threading ;) Corn threading!!!
September 6th, 2011 at 12:04 am
I just did this yesterday with about 10 ears from my garden! They were getting a little starchy as I didn’t pick them in time, so I hope they taste okay in whatever they become in winter. I also made pickles and pear sauce (like applesauce)this week, so I’m in the same mode of preserving. Onto peach jam soon…
September 7th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
So weird, I do this with all my other veggies (and a lot of fruits) but never thought to do ti with corn!
September 8th, 2011 at 5:11 am
Great Posts…
[...]always a big fan of linking to blog writers that I love but don’t get tons of publicity from[...]……
September 8th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
I love corn soup specially when cold season I love the sweet taste.
September 11th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
This is just the way we do it too! So worth the work once it gets to the point of January-February
September 15th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Freezing corn! Why did I not think of that? When I was in culinary school (here’s the story on that: “Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood” – http://amzn.to/oqXw1R), we were taught to freeze berries, but never corn. Such a good idea.
September 16th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Try to pick up some corn from Twin Garden Farms (andersonville farmer’s market on Wednesdays) http://www.twingardenfarms.com/ They have the best sweet corn I’ve ever tasted, and they suggest freezing it with the husks on! Might try it.