No. 1 thing to know about preserving produce for winter: It takes hard work and time and might make a big mess.
No. 2 thing to know about preserving produce for winter: In the winter when you get to pull yummy things out of your pantry and freezer…all the hard work and time and big mess will have been worth it. Very worth it!
Here’s a bit about how I put up corn…and you should also check out this post at Amy’s Finer Things because she blogged about this already. I really liked her technique for cutting the corn off the cob!
First…here is our happy little party of Nebraska Cornhuskers….
Check it out…they make a game of how far they can throw the husks. Hey, whatever it takes to get the work done with a happy attitude!
Meanwhile…I’m in the kitchen sticking those ears into boiling water. Just for a short time. Two to three minutes. Blanching stops the aging process of your produce.
Ah, but you don’t want them to continue to cook…so you immediately pull it out of the boiling water (with tongs of course) and run it under cold water to try to cool it off right away. (And Amy recomended putting it in ice water…a much better idea!!)
Now, I line up my ears (hehe…line up my ears…hehe)
And then I cut the corn off the cob into a bowl with a sharp knife. If you have an electric knife, you can use that too. Or do it the way Amy does it. (Oh, so many options.) (But no matter what option you choose, your hand will probably cramp up and feel like it will never again be them same by the time you’re done. But don’t worry, after several operations, you’ll be okay again.) (Kidding…just give yourself a few minutes of a hand massage.)
I then use a measuring cup to scoop the corn into freezer bags. Sometimes I use quart…sometimes I use gallon. Just don’t fill the bags too full, or after it freezes, you’ll have a terrible time getting your corn out of the bag!
Then get the air out of the bag and seal it up and press it flat. And it’s ready to go into the freezer. Isn’t it beautiful?
When you’re ready to cook it, break off whatever amount of corn you want, put it into a saucepan with a little water and cook it until it’s bubbly. Turn it off, drain out the excess water and stir in butter and salt!
Awesome!
I’ll show you to process of freezing green beans another time!
