Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

  • Home
    • About
    • FAQs
  • Recipes
    • Bread and Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Dairy
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes and Snacks
    • Desserts
    • Gluten Free
    • Instant Pot
    • Crock Pot
    • Heavenly Homemaker’s Weekly Menus
  • Homemaking
    • Real Food Sources
  • Store
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Simple Meals
  • Club Members!

Putting up Corn for Winter

August 8, 2008 by Laura 30 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

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….

corn7sm.JPG

corn9sm.JPG

corn8sm.JPG

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!

corn3sm.JPG

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.

corn4sm.JPG

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!!)

corn2sm.JPG

Now, I line up my ears (hehe…line up my ears…hehe)

corn5sm.JPG

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.)

corn6sm.JPG

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! 

corn1sm.JPG

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!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Filed Under: Canning and Preserving, Eat More Fruits and Veggies, Gardening Tagged With: corn, freezer, preserving

Comments

  1. Andrea Frederick says

    August 8, 2008 at 9:13 am

    And then you spend FOREVER finding little sticky tidbits you missed the last 7 times you mopped the floor:) But your worth it it is worth it when winter rolls around!

    Reply
  2. Joyce says

    August 8, 2008 at 9:14 am

    Your little shuckers are just the cutest!

    This does look like a lot of work, but sometime in the middle of the winter having a taste of summer will be all worth it, I’m sure.:)

    Joyce

    Reply
  3. Cassandra Stafford says

    August 8, 2008 at 9:38 am

    Looks awesome. My uncle and mom freeze whole cobs of corn right in the shuck. They pull the shucks back, clean them, then wrap shucks back around. They taste fresh from the garden when cooked in the winter. Works great (they say).

    Reply
  4. Mama says

    August 8, 2008 at 9:45 am

    Wow you make it seem so easy. I am deffinately gonna try this.
    Also I have a little question. “How should I cook brown rice?” I love your post about eating right and eating real foods. I am well on my way to doing just that. I need to know, do you soak your rice before cooking and can you explain it so that I can get it (posting pictures of the proccess would help also?
    Thanks in advance

    Reply
  5. Michele @ Frugal Granola says

    August 8, 2008 at 11:19 am

    That’s exactly how I freeze my corn, too. :) We don’t usually have corn around here until about September, though. That looks good!

    Blessings,
    Michele

    Reply
  6. Faith says

    August 8, 2008 at 11:45 am

    That looks easy enough. I’m going to the Farmers Market this weekend and will pick up a bunch of corn and do this for winter. I love your blog and read it daily. Your boys are so cute!

    Thanks for all the tips.

    Faith

    Reply
  7. Erin says

    August 8, 2008 at 11:56 am

    is there anything wrong with not blanching it before freezing it? i tend to think more nutrients/enzymes would be spared if it’s not cooked before you package it

    Reply
  8. Donna says

    August 8, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    Go shuckers!
    Your little guys look like they’re doing a great job!

    Hey, U gonna show us pics of your garden sometime? :-)

    Reply
  9. Sally says

    August 8, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Can you believe that my Kansas grown hubby didn’t have a clue how to shuck corn?? He said he’d never done it before…his California bride had to show him how!

    Reply
    • Suzykillers says

      August 10, 2009 at 8:28 am

      I have one of thoes Kansas boys,ask his MoM I bet he does know how to shuck corn

      Reply
  10. Hestial says

    August 8, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Oh, what a perfect post! Local corn is only .50 an ear at the grocery store here, but I haven’t been able to stock up: with only two of us in the house, we don’t go through it fast enough. I’m going to buy a bunch next week and try this, thanks :D

    Reply
  11. Brenda says

    August 8, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    Laura, my in-laws take theirs off the cob using an angel food cake pan. They stick the stem of the ear into the hole in the middle and cut the corn off the sides. They say it works like a charm! :)

    Reply
  12. Joyce says

    August 8, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    Brenda, that sounds like a great idea! I’m definitely going to try it.:)

    Thanks for sharing,
    Joyce

    Reply
  13. Amy @ Finer Things says

    August 8, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Boy, does THAT bring back some pretty fresh memories… of very sore hands…;-)
    But SO worth it!

    Reply
  14. jayme says

    August 9, 2008 at 8:11 am

    Wow. That looks sooo easy. Hmmmmmmmm. I might have to venture over to the farmers market and buy a great big bunch of corn. :)

    Reply
  15. Marie says

    August 9, 2008 at 9:01 am

    Who knew that putting up corn was so easy! A couple of years ago I froze the whole cob. That worked pretty well!

    Reply
  16. Marie says

    August 9, 2008 at 9:02 am

    Who knew that putting up corn was so easy! A couple of years ago I froze the whole cob. That worked pretty well! Do you have any tips for green beans?

    Reply
  17. Marie says

    August 9, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Ooops I didn’t mean to post my comment twice!

    Reply
  18. Sharon says

    August 17, 2008 at 7:52 am

    Question – When you put the cobs in the boiling water do you wait for the water to boil again before starting your 3 minutes?

    Reply
  19. Trish says

    September 19, 2008 at 9:26 am

    I agree with Amy on the ice bath to cool the cobs, since that is the way we did it growing up. We would freeze water in any available containers then use a pick to break it into smaller chunks. We would fill both sinks with ice chunks and water and dunk the cobs in after blanching. Since we froze our corn on the cob this insured that the cob was cool enough before placing into freezer bags. My girls WILL NOT eat corn out of a can, it has to be cooked on the cob and then cut off. They can tell the difference when eating corn at someone elses house! Only homegrown corn for them!

    Reply
  20. Nancy says

    August 30, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Hey, let’s make it easy! Get a corn cutter, there are several types, easy to find on Ebay (I’m not selling, just suggesting) and it saves you a lot of time and sore hands! My aunt used to make the BEST creamed corn with one, it does it all in one sweep, just takes a few seconds per cob! YUMMMY!

    Reply
  21. Linda says

    August 12, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    Thanks so much, I froze corn last year and ruined it, you really helped me out.

    Reply
  22. Megan says

    September 18, 2010 at 8:26 am

    I bought a dozen ears this morning. I look forward to putting it up and enjoying it later. We’ve had a hotter than usual summer, so it’s been hard to find local corn.

    Reply
  23. Melissa says

    April 14, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    Laura,
    I want to say thanks so much for all of this info on canning. I have never done it before but I am going to get started this year. We have famer’s markets four days out of the week in our city. I want to take advantage of all that fresh produce. Your posts make me less nervous and give me some confidence that I can do it. I appreciate all of the pictures too! I’m amazed at all you can accomplish while homeschooling. You’re inspiring, thanks again.

    Reply
  24. Heather T. says

    April 21, 2011 at 11:01 am

    I know this is an older post but the way we freeze corn is cut it off uncooked then add it to a big pan with butter and salt cook for a few minutes and scoop into bags then freeze, it is like fresh corn on the cob, seriously, yummy.

    Reply
  25. T.R. says

    September 13, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    Thank you Laura! I just bought 25 ears of corn that was on sale for 19 cents each. I just “put away” 10 of them in the past hour, along with some broccoli. :O) If I’d known it was this easy I would have been doing this a LONG time ago.

    Quick question if you read this: should we blanch other veggies, etc as well i.e. broccoli, peaches, etc. or is it preference?

    Reply
    • Laura says

      September 20, 2011 at 8:19 am

      Fruit doesn’t need to be blanched before freezing, but veggies do. Blanching stops their aging process and keeps them fresh longer. :)

      Reply
  26. Stacy Makes Cents says

    September 13, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    We think this is the best way to preserve corn. Our family does this every year and it always gives us GREAT vegetables over the winter.

    Reply
  27. C[email protected] says

    July 26, 2012 at 4:35 pm

    I am a city girl who now lives in NC and thanks to my co-workers, and your site, I have “put up corn” for the first time! Was it work? Yes, but it was also a lot of fun!

    Reply
  28. BetsyD says

    July 28, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    We just put up 12 quarts from our garden this summer and the corn is still coming in! The way you described freezing it is the way we have been doing it– yeah, we got something right! :) It has been a great activity for our 4 boys and a help to me. I will mention a product that has been invaluable to us that is so inexpensive and yes, disclaimer here, I do sell it as a consultant with Pampered Chef. Their kernal cutter, though, is AWESOME and has been a welcome relief to these tired hands. I have sold so many to local farmers in our area, b/c it saves so much time. Just thought you might want to check it out.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Join Our Community!

 Facebook Twitter RSS E-mail Instagram Pinterest

Popular Posts

~ Will All of the Real Moms Please Stand Up?
~ Easy! Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread
~ How to Make Gatorade
~ 31 Real Food Breakfast Ideas
~ Dear Teenage Girls...
~ When Mom Takes a Step Back
~ The Inexpensive Health Insurance We Love!
~ Let's Talk Real Food Grocery Budgets

Check out our latest posts!

  • Inexpensive and Fun Valentine’s Day Treats
  • Easy Chocolate Waffles
  • 4 Meals You Can Make for $1/Person
  • Easy Chili Cheese Dip
  • How to Make 5 Meals with 1 Pork Roast
Home  ~  Simple Meals  ~  Club Membership  ~  Shop  ~  Privacy Policy  ~  Disclosure  ~ Contact

Copyright © 2023 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in