*yawn*
*blink blink*
*chugs two gallons of strong coffee*
Wow! Well, that’s a little better. After yesterday, I’m exhausted. It seems like every time I have a day or two off of work, I need a day or two to recover. Vacation can be exhausting, but this summer, I haven’t been able to go on vacation, and it’s been equally exhausting.
Yesterday I froze corn, something I’ve only attempted as an adult once up to now. It was bad. I found my grandma’s recipe, then promptly misread it, and the results were terrible. But we received a boatload of fresh sweet corn over the weekend and had to do something with it, so yesterday I tracked down my grandma’s recipe again, determined to have better results this time.
I’m happy to say I got what I wanted. I’m even happier to say that I’m done freezing corn (for a while, anyway).
I posted a few shots of my progress on Instagram throughout the day yesterday, but it was after 11:00 p.m. last night before we were finally finished – it would have been much later without the help of my wonderful family. When I was a kid, my mom’s family always used to freeze corn together – we shucked and cut the corn outside (this keeps the mess down, and I really wish I’d done the same thing yesterday), then cooked it inside. It was always a big day – Grandpa always had a truckload of corn to freeze. One of my favorite corn-freezing stories involved my great-grandma. I have no idea if I was present at the time this particular incident occurred (she died when I was four), but I get a kick out of the story regardless. Anyway, it was corn-freezing day and Oma (my great-grandma) was wearing a band-aid. They shucked, cut, cooked, and froze corn all day long. By the end of the day, Oma was missing her band-aid, and no one had any idea when she’d lost it. As I recall, it never turned up, either, at least not that anyone knew of.
Yesterday was also Thumper’s birthday, so there was that. My baby is three now – how is that possible?
So, how did I freeze my corn? Two ways, actually – my grandma’s way and my husband’s way.
Seymour’s way is pretty uncomplicated – you put the corn in a pot with some water, bring it to a boil and cook for ten minutes, then cut it off the cob, put it in Ziploc bags, and freeze.
My grandma’s way is still pretty simple, but there are a couple more steps.
Freezer Corn
6 c. corn
2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. sugar
1 c. boiling water
Cut the corn off the cob and measure it into a pot. (I did mine in larger batches, so multiplied the salt, sugar, and water accordingly.) Add salt and sugar, stirring to combine. Pour the boiling water over the corn (I heated my water in the microwave before adding it to my pot of corn), then cook for three minutes, stirring occasionally.
To cool the corn, place the pot in a sink full of cold water. Stir the corn occasionally. (My pots kept floating, so I hung liquid measuring cups from the handles on the pot, letting them fill with water.) Once the corn is cooled, fill your Ziploc bags and put it in the freezer.
The warmer the corn is when you put it in the bags, the more steam builds up inside the bags, which will lead to more ice inside the bags. The cooler the corn is, the less ice you’ll have. And I know that a cup of water for six cups of corn seems like way too little, but it really is all you need. I started out using a quart of water for twelve cups of corn, and then went down to three cups, then two, and finally one cup of water for six cups of corn. You don’t need to drain the corn, because what little water makes it into the bag will be what you use to cook it in when it thaws. And with only one cup of water for six cups of corn, there isn’t that much leftover water anyway.
So, do you freeze vegetables in the summer? Do you have a favorite recipe you use? Any favorite stories to go along with your preservation adventures? Share ’em below! 🙂
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Suddenly they all died. The end. 
It seems like an awful lot of work.
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Oh dear Lord, is it ever! But the results will be worth it come January. 🙂
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I had no idea freezing corn was such a time consuming process.Come to think of it, we don’t freeze vegetables in Jamaica. We tend to be in harvest all year round. It wasn’t until I visited the states that I saw certain frozen foods that I had never thought about freezing. We do freeze ackee but its rarely for long term preservation and mainly for taking on overseas travels.
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It’s shucking and cutting that take the most time. It’s easier if you have a bunch of people helping – time goes faster and it’s more fun.
What did you see frozen that you wouldn’t think to freeze?
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Ockra, mango and potato.
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Hmm. I wouldn’t think of freezing potatoes, either, but then we keep French fries and hash browns and tater tots in the freezer, and those are all potatoes, so I guess that sort of makes sense? I don’t know. Typically, we just go to the store and buy a bag of potatoes if we want them for boiling or frying or some such. As for okra and mangoes, they don’t grow in Iowa (at least, they don’t as far as I know), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them frozen. I’ve seen dried mango pieces in trail mixes and such.
The longer I think about it, though, the less weird it seems, I suppose because people freeze other fruits like strawberries and blueberries. I just thawed some blueberries the other night, as a matter of fact. I was going to make muffins today, but the day was over before I knew it.
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We don’t freeze ockras in Jamaica. When its done its just done (out of season). Mangoes like most other things are available all year round (or so it would seem)
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Some things are like that here. I love pomegranates, but they don’t grow here, so when they’re out of season, that’s it. Some things get imported year-round, but then you have to pay through the nose for them (like $5/pound for cherries, which is ridiculous – and I love cherries, but I hardly ever buy them because they’re so expensive).
I need a bigger yard so I can plant more fruit trees. And then I need to win the lottery so I can hire a gardener to take care of them because I have a black thumb and a huge fruit craving. 😀
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Lol! When wants don’t match up to probability.
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I love capsicums, because they don’t need blanching before freezing. I just use what I want and chuck the rest of it in a freezer bag for next time. Sometimes I’ll freeze cauliflower if I get a big one and don’t want to use it all. I buy frozen vegies instead of fresh most of the time, because they’re processed a lot quicker than some of the fresh stuff my supermarket serves up!
Your corn freezing makes for a wonderful family tradition kept alive. Well done.
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That’s the way to go! But what’s a capsicum?
We buy canned veggies for the most part, but in the summer, I love having fresh things. They taste so much better than their canned counterparts. 🙂
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