Farming Friday

One of the most popular questions we hear at the Farmer's Market is "How do you freeze the corn?"  Truth be told, we generally repeat the method the person before had just finished telling us about.  We don't have much personal experience freezing our corn, which is a shame and something we have set out to rectify this year.

Because Bill is super picky about his corn (spoiled by Shelby corn, I suppose) :), we basically don't eat corn outside of corn season.  If the flavor or texture are not just right, there's no chance he's eating it.  So, in order for this momma to have another veggie side for her family, I really need to figure out how to preserve the "good stuff".

"Putin' Up Corn" (that's the official country way of saying it) 

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Shuck the ears and remove the silks.  Put 4-5 ears in at a time, being careful to not overcrowd the pot.  Leave the ears in for only 2-3 minutes.  Remove them and immediately place them in a large bowl filled with ice water.  This will stop the cooking and cool the ear before freezing.

Once the ears are cool (3-5 minutes), remove them from the water and pat dry.  At this point, we used two different techniques that we'll have to report on as we actually eat the ears this winter.

Technique A:
Use Ziploc Vacuum seal bags.  I bought these when they were brand new and they had coupons all over for them.  They're actually really great.  You use a little plastic hand pump to remove air from the bag.  No sucking through a straw or anything to remove air (bleh).

Technique B:
This approach was mentioned by a customer our last corn market.  They said they do the same process as above, and then wrap each individual ear in foil, then put them in a freezer bag.  Basically, we ran out of Ziploc vacuum bags so decided it was a great opportunity to test out another approach.

For some reason, the smell of the corn was making me sick, so I had to leave the kitchen while Bill finished it up.  So, unfortunately, I don't have any "in the process" pictures, only "end result" pics.  :)

If you use a different method and approve of the results, please share!  I suspect sometime this winter I'll end up sharing if we think it's worth the effort.  :)

Hope you're having a great Friday!

Love!