Freezing Corn

Usually the corn-on-the-cob comes into season in Nebraska around the middle of July.  Of course, this year has been extraordinarily H-O-T...so the corn was ready a month early.  Anyway, I did find some corn to freeze this year.  I thought you might like to see how I get the corn from the farmers' market to the freezer.

1. Purchase the corn.  (I purchased 5 dozen ears of corn, but I process no more than 3 dozen ears at a time in the roaster.) 
2. Shuck the corn, cutting off any bad spots. 
3. Clean the corn thoroughly removing as much silk as possible. 
4. Using an electric knife, cut the corn off the cob. 
1. Be careful to NOT cut cob into your corn.  Cob just doesn't taste very good.
2. I use a jelly roll pan to cut the corn into (instead of a cutting board) because I want to keep the corn "milk" for the finished project.
3. Discard the cobs unless you want to dry them for cheap TP (I'm really suggesting that you NOT do this...really)
5. Dump the corn into a turkey roaster (or other large pan with a lid.)
6. Once all of the corn (3 doz ears worth) is in the roaster, add 1 quart of heavy cream or half-n-half.  Stir the corn to coat.  Put four sticks of butter (1 lb.) on top of the corn.  Put the lid on the roaster.
7. Bake in the oven at 250 F for one hour--stirring thoroughly every 15 minutes.
8. After the corn has baked for an hour, let the corn set out until it is cool enough to handle.  Put two cups (or whatever amount works best for your family) into a freezer bag.  [TIP:  I use a canning funnel when putting the corn in the freezer bags to keep messes to a minimum.]
9. Freeze.  I flatten the bags so that they don't take a bunch of room in the freezer.

When you are ready to use the corn, defrost the corn a little (enough so you can get it out of the bag) by either getting it out a meal before you want to use it and putting it in the fridge -OR- microwave it for a minute or two.  Put on the stove top on medium heat until it is hot.  Stir often.

Corn -- after it has been cut off using the electric knife.

Corn -- after it has been baked.

Corn -- after it has been frozen -- stacked in the freezer.

I know this is not a "healthy" way to preserve corn, but it sure tastes awesome.  This is the way Trevor's mom taught us to freeze corn.  It's awesome on mashed potatoes instead of gravy OR in chicken and noodles.

One year we ended up with 18 dozen ears of corn.  Trevor's mom and dad, Trevor, and I processed corn ALL DAY LONG...we didn't want any corn for quite some time.

From 5 dozen ears, I got 17 - 2 cup packages of frozen corn.  Amounts will vary based on the quality of the corn and how good (or bad) the person is at cutting the corn from the cob.

How do you prefer preserved corn?

Have a wonderful week, and take care of you!