Yesterday afternoon (and into the night), we harvested and froze sweet corn. James & Stephen picked the corn and then helped take the ends off and shuck it.
At this point, it is not critical to remove every bit of silk, just the loose silk that comes off quickly.
Elizabeth was just plain tuckered out and fell asleep on my shoulder (which never happens)! I think she's coming down with a little cold; I just hope it doesn't turn into an ear infection.
After the corn has all been shucked, it's time to take it inside and wash it.
Aren't those kernels beautiful? They didn't all look this way!
Excuse how bad my hair looks, it was really hot outside! This is the time to wash as much silk off as you can without taking too much time per ear. A little silk never hurt anyone anyway!
The ears then get blanched for 5 minutes in boiling water. This is to kill any bacteria that might be on the corn and helps to preserve the kernels.
The ears then go into a sink of cold water to take off the immediate heat.
After a couple of minutes, the ears are then transfered to a cooler of ice water until the ears themselves are ice cold.
After they have sufficiently cooled down, the ears are taken out of the cooler and drained. You want to be sure and drain the ears so that the corn is not watery when you bag it.
Next, slice the kernels off of the ears! You don't want to slice too deep toward the cob because you don't want to eat the hard bits that come off and you for sure don't want to be eating cob!
After the corn has all been shucked, it's time to take it inside and wash it.
Aren't those kernels beautiful? They didn't all look this way!
Excuse how bad my hair looks, it was really hot outside! This is the time to wash as much silk off as you can without taking too much time per ear. A little silk never hurt anyone anyway!
The ears then get blanched for 5 minutes in boiling water. This is to kill any bacteria that might be on the corn and helps to preserve the kernels.
The ears then go into a sink of cold water to take off the immediate heat.
After a couple of minutes, the ears are then transfered to a cooler of ice water until the ears themselves are ice cold.
After they have sufficiently cooled down, the ears are taken out of the cooler and drained. You want to be sure and drain the ears so that the corn is not watery when you bag it.
Next, slice the kernels off of the ears! You don't want to slice too deep toward the cob because you don't want to eat the hard bits that come off and you for sure don't want to be eating cob! I try to cut the corn off of the cob, but I'm not quite as elegant as my FIL!
After you cut the kernels off, you can use the back of the knife to scrape off the remaining "cream" off of the cob. We froze them together.
After it's bagged and labeled, it goes into the freezer! Easy! Last night was a small batch and we put up 12 quarts of corn. Yummy! I'm not sure if it was quite a million kernels, but it sure felt like it!
You don't take the corn to market? Or is this just your personal corn supply?
ReplyDeleteThis is our personal corn supply. We have four more rows of corn planted, and if it looks good enough when it's ready, I'll take it to market. If not, we may freeze more. Last Tuesday at market, a couple of guys showed up with an entire truck bed full of really pretty sweet corn, so it's not worth me taking it until everyone else has sold theirs. Then, I'll be the only person left with corn and if customers want it, they have to buy from me. Haha...it's my evil plan to make money! :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks soooooo yummy! I wish I had some...HEB had ears of corn 4for $1 but the kernels mostly looked white!~yours look delish...
ReplyDeleteYummy! There is nothing better than fresh sweet corn! Are you coming to the Schneider reunion? Think I can bribe you into smuggling me a bag or two? hee hee
ReplyDeleteYes, we will be at the Schneider reunion and we will see about the corn. I may have fresh sweet corn to give! Or I could put it all in a basket and give it for the silent auction item...hmmm.... :) Just kidding! I'll see what I can do.
ReplyDelete