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Freezing Sweet Corn

It seems there a million ways to freeze corn and I have tried at least half of them. When we lived on the farm where there was an abundance of sweet corn (thank you neighbors), I would spend a whole day freezing sweet corn. And who wants to spend a whole day on the weekend freezing corn? After a couple years of this time consuming activity, I mastered a process that works great for me. It's relatively messy free (well you know it is corn so it is a little messy), less time consuming, and I don't necessarily need any helpers, although it's so much more fun to have family or friends helping! This is how it works for me:
  • My first rule is clean, clean, clean. Everything must be clean! I use one of my kitchen sinks to cool the corn after it has cooked, so you must clean, disinfectant, and rinse your sink. I start with hot water and baking soda and scrub, scrub, scrub! Then I spray vinegar and tea tree oil, leave it on for a few minutes, then rinse with hot, hot water. Ok - you get it, right? I just go a little over-the-top on this part because you don't want gross stuff on your corn.
  • After the cleaning, shuck your corn.
  • Boil water on the stove in a very large kettle (I use my canner) add 3 T sugar. If using a smaller pot, 1-2 T of sugar will be fine.
  • When the water is boiling, add your ears of corn making sure there is room for them to turn in the pan.
  • Boil for 3 minutes.
  • Transfer the ears of corn into you clean sink filled with cold water and as many ice cubes as you can fit in it.
  • Leave the corn in the sink until it's cold, mine takes about 5 minutes. 
  • To start, place an angel food pan on top of a plate, then place it on top of a cutting board. Place the large end of the ear of corn into the hole of the pan. Use a sharp knife, start at the top and cut the corn off the cob in a downward motion. After the kernels have been removed, scrape the back of your knife blade over the cob so you get the yummy corn juice in your pan.
  • I bag my corn in quart freezer bags and use my handy dandy Ziploc air remover to take out the air from the bags. If you use this gadget, make sure you buy the Ziploc baggies that are designed for this purpose. Otherwise regular freezer bags work fine if you make sure you get as much air out of the bags as possible.
  • Place bags in the freezer in single layers so it can freeze rather quickly.
  • I bought some stacking plastic bins at the dollar store and I store my bags in those after they have frozen. It would be easier if you have a separate freezer for this, but I didn't get around to that purchase yet!
I froze 6 dozen ears today and it took about 4 hours for the entire process and not one kernel on the floor! But, I had sticky corn juice in my hair and all over my arms - haha! Oh well, we will certainly enjoy that frozen corn in the middle of winter! Happy freezing!




Love  and peace,
~ Simply Tammi
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