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!
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!
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
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).
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
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
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
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
Go shuckers!
Your little guys look like they’re doing a great job!
Hey, U gonna show us pics of your garden sometime? :-)
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!
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
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! :)
Brenda, that sounds like a great idea! I’m definitely going to try it.:)
Thanks for sharing,
Joyce
Boy, does THAT bring back some pretty fresh memories… of very sore hands…;-)
But SO worth it!
Wow. That looks sooo easy. Hmmmmmmmm. I might have to venture over to the farmers market and buy a great big bunch of corn. :)
Who knew that putting up corn was so easy! A couple of years ago I froze the whole cob. That worked pretty well!
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?
Ooops I didn’t mean to post my comment twice!
Question – When you put the cobs in the boiling water do you wait for the water to boil again before starting your 3 minutes?
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!
I have one of thoes Kansas boys,ask his MoM I bet he does know how to shuck corn
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!
Thanks so much, I froze corn last year and ruined it, you really helped me out.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Fruit doesn’t need to be blanched before freezing, but veggies do. Blanching stops their aging process and keeps them fresh longer. :)
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!
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.