How To: Freezer Corn

A few weeks ago, I drove out to Amish country and met my mother-in-law at the local farmer's market. It's an enormous sprawling thing with vendors selling anything and everything that can be homemade or grown on the farm. Here someone is selling candies, red fireballs and sugar-dusted gummies and proud looking chocolates, smartly decorated. A lady calls out to look at her fresh baked bread, oatmeal and wheat and cinnamon raisin. The smell of yeast is hard to resist as you pass her by. Another proudly shows her canned goods, peach preserves and raspberry jams standing at attention, tempting you to buy a jar and revisit the baked goods. And then there is the produce. Rows of green and red peppers, bins of green beans and snap peas, peaches and plums carefully placed in baskets, and buckets of unshucked corn. 

It was a miserably rainy day. The kind that comes down unceasingly and wets you through in a minute. We hastily made our way outside and crammed under a tent that sheltered heaps and heaps of sweet corn. The price was right and we began bagging dozen after dozen of the rather moist ears. Mom wanted a few dozen and I wanted a few more dozen and we ended up buying 10 dozen ears. Yes. 120 ears of corn. And then we headed back to my in-laws' for processing.

They say with sweet corn that you should run from the cornfield to the kitchen to process it as quickly as you can. The minute corn is picked its sugars begin to turn to starch, losing its freshly-picked sweetness the longer you wait to eat it. 

But you can stop the deteriorating process by lightly blanching the corn, plunging it into a freezing cold water bath, cutting the kernels off the cob and popping them in the freezer. These quarts of frozen corn are perfect for my Grammy's Corn Chowder or Corn Pudding (Recipes coming soon!) 

The processing went surprisingly quickly, with four hands, three pots and light conversation to make the minutes pass. It was fun to share with my mother-in-law a tradition that has been in my family for generations. 

Of course, you don't need to do 10 dozen ears! Just a couple dozen will yield a few quarts of corn. (Roughly 10 ears = 1 quart of corn) And it's a surprisingly easy process. 

Freezer Corn

Approximately 10 ears makes 1 quart of corn

You will need:

Sweet corn, of course. Please don't buy it from the grocery store. Those ears have been sitting around for who knows how long. It's best to get it from a farmer's market. Ask them when the ears have been picked. That morning would be ideal. 

1 or 2 very large pots

Tongs

A very sharp paring knife (and a knife sharpener would be handy)

Cookie sheets

Quart-size freezer bags 

Lots of ice

Start by setting water on to boil. Do not add salt. 

(Did you know that if you leave the lid on your pot the water will boil up to 30% faster?)

Also, at this point it's a good idea to clear out your sink, give it a quick scrub 

and fill it with cold water. Add ice to make it extra cold. 

(Alternatively, you could make a water bath in a very large bowl. The sink is always easiest for me.)

Then shuck the corn. Strip off the husks and then try to clear away as much of the silk as possible. 

An unused toothbrush or small scrub brush can help clear the silk, 

but brush lightly or you may damage the corn kernels.

Keep an eye out for damaged or brown parts of the corn because there may be worms. 

Simply break off that section of the cob and throw away 

(the worms are almost always at the top of the ear).

Once you have a dozen or so ears and your water is rapidly boiling, place the corn into the pot. 

Once the water returns to a rolling boil, boil the corn for 5 minutes. 

Using tongs, quickly remove the corn from the boiling water and rinse with cold water 

(It really helps to have a double sink at this point!)....

(Also, no need to dump your boiling water if you are doing more than one batch of corn. 

Just bring the water back to a boil for your next set of ears.)

...and then move the corn to the ice water bath that you have prepared.

Let the corn sit in the bath until it's no longer warm. 

I usually start shucking my next batch of corn while I wait for the first batch to cool.

Once the corn is cool, start removing the kernels by running a sharp knife down the cob. 

Repeat all the way around the cob until all the kernels are removed.

 Use a large baking sheet to catch the kernels.

Then, run the back of the knife down the cob to get out any extra bits or milk still left in the cob.

Once you have enough, put 4 cups of corn into a quart-sized bag, label with the year and take straight to the freezer. No need to break up any large clumps of kernels (those were always my favorite part as a kid...ok, still is) and be sure to dump any of that corn milk that accumulates on your cookie sheet into the bag too. So much flavor in that liquid!

Chuck the husks and cobs or compost them!

Now you have the tasty beginnings to corn chowder, corn pudding or a tasty side.