What, Corn for the Year... #fff
It is that time of year again, late August, the corn is in.
Corn is the one vegetable we don't grow, but rather buy from a local Amish farmer. This will be our third year preparing enough corn to make it from one year to the next.
We purchase 12 dozen ears and it is off to the races.
Blanching any vegetable is the pratice we use to ensure that the flavor of the vegetable is locked in, and it will be able to be stored for a considerable amount of time.
Preparing in this way will ensure that the produce will last for at least a year when it is frozen.
The blanching time for individual vegetables is different, and here is the schedule for corn.
• small ears ( 1¼ inches or less in diameter) 7 minutes,
• medium ears (1¼ to 11/2 inches in diameter) 9 minutes, and
• large ears (over 11/2 inches in diameter) 11 minutes.
Blanching is simply boiling.
After the corn is blanched, it is immediately placed in ice water for the same amount of time that it was boiled for. In this case, we boiled for 9 minutes, therefor it will be soaked in the ice water bath for 9 minutes.
The ice water bath immediately chills the corn and halts the cooking process, locking in all of the goodness.
The temperature must be back to boiling before starting the timer. It must be boiling within a minute of dumping the corn into the water. If it takes more than 1 minute to return to a boil, there's another problem at work though. If it takes that long (several minutes or more) for the water to get back to boiling, that indicates that the volume of water is too small, relative to the amount of corn added. The corn is cooling the water too much.
While the water isn't at the boiling point, it's still heating the corn, which may result in loss of flavor and sugar due to overcooking. The solution is to use a substantially larger pot, or put much less corn in each batch - or both - so the water returns to boiling in a minute or so.
With the size pot we use, we are able to blanch 16 ears at a time.
60 ears of corn will be left on the cob. Before we vacuum seal the corn, it is placed in the freezer for about 10 minutes, and then sealed.
We take the corn off of the cob for the other 60 ears.
The nibblets are then placed in a sandwich bag and frozen. Vacuum sealing before freezing is impossible as the vacuum draws all of the juices out, and makes it impossible for the bag to be sealed properly.
We make sure to form the corn in the sandwich bag just so. Taking the time to do this before vacuum sealing makes the transfer from sandwich bag to vacuum sealed bag, very easy.
This is the fun part. We are only minutes from storing the corn in the deep freezer, ready to be enjoyed through the year.
At this point you may be thinking, boy this must take a lot of time. Well you're correct. To prepare this much corn took #farm-mom and me about 7 hours, and we enjoyed every minute of it.
For us it is time well spent. 120 ears of corn in storage and ready to go.
On the farm we try and utilize everything possible. The husks have been added to our mulch pile, and will be used to amend the soil for next year's crop.
The cobs are saved, and we will bring them to #farm-mom's cousin to feed to her pigs.
Hope you enjoyed!
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This is pretty close to how my parents used to do it. I love my vacuum sealer, it is probably the single most awesome kitchen gadget I have. The air fryer and instant pot would be close seconds. I love good sweet corn and it is awesome that you have such a great source so close to you.
Thanks for stopping by @bozz. This is the third year we have purchased our corn from this farmer, and each year they never disappoint. Buying the corn in bulk the farmer gives us a $1.00 discount / dozen, bringing the price down to $4.00 / dozen. Now that is a pretty good deal. I don't know what we would do without our vacuum sealer, best gadget in the kitchen. My daughter just bought an air fryer and she loves it. We may have to get one ourselves.
They are pretty awesome and you can use them for so many things. Plus they are healthier for you. I don't think I would ever go back to a traditional fryer. I don't eat a ton of fried food anyway though. That does seem like a great price for corn. I think my wife and I might try to make it to the Farmers Market this weekend. Maybe I will buy some myself!
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thanks gentlemen and ladies.
Fantastic post. You really captured the whole process @thebigsweed. It's a good thing you had your little helper. You wouldn't have had as much fun, my friend !
Am I right???
Without my little helper #farm-mom, none of what makes me who I am would even be possible.
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Thats a good lot of corn you bought and prepared, I do love corn, now I have a craving for corn on the cob
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Do you already know our BEER CrowdfundingBEERtoken. Enjoy it!Goodness me that's a whole load of corn and a whole load of work prepping it for the freezer, but I'm sure it tastes a whole lot better than the store bought frozen variety! I just looove corn!