Putting Up Corn As a First-Timer

I recently had an experience putting up corn as a first-timer!  I grew up eating fresh vegetables and fruit from my great-uncle’s garden.  I can often remember my Mama standing at the sink in the kitchen, putting up fresh peas, corn, and tomatoes.  Of course, as a kid, none of that interested me in the least.  As a teenager, I was certainly busier with other things.  Now that I’m an adult, I can appreciate the time she took to freeze and preserve those fresh vegetables and fruit.  Now I want to learn!  So, last Wednesday, I had my first experience putting up corn.

It all started on Tuesday.  I had been visiting my Mama’s house, and she had been given some corn that morning.  She sent me home with three ears, explained how to prepare them to parboil, and put them in the freezer.  It sounded easy enough, so I proudly took my three little ears of corn home and looked forward to the experience. Then, a funny thing happened that afternoon!  My doorbell rang, and it was my neighbor.  Guess what she had in her hand?  A big sack of fresh-picked corn!  Haha!  She and a friend had picked a ton of corn from her friend’s garden that morning, and she wanted to know if I wanted a bag!  I said, of course, and then once I spread the corn out on my kitchen counter, I quickly realized I had way more than I bargained for, although a nice bounty!

Putting Up Corn

So, step 1 in preparing this corn was to shuck the corn.  I peeled off the husk, grabbed a NEW toothbrush, and used it to scrape off any of the silk left behind.

I thought this part would be harder than it sounded, but it really wasn’t!  Of course, it is a little time-consuming.  It took a little while, but once I was done, I then cut off each end of the ear of corn and then split the cob in half.

Parboiling the Corn

Next up, it was time to parboil the corn.  So, I set my water to boiling and dropped the corn in for twenty minutes.  While this was happening, I took the opportunity to sit and rest for a few minutes.  Standing up in the kitchen for long periods of time is still tough for me. Haha!

 

Once the corn was parboiled, I used a set of tongs to remove each piece and set them out on a clean dish towel to cool off completely.

 

Ready for the Freezer!

Once the corn was cooled, I placed them in resealable freezer bags, labeled them with a date, and set them in the freezer.  All done!  I got several bags of corn out of this batch I was given, and I am so excited that we now have some delicious, fresh sweet corn to enjoy for several meals to come.  When I’m ready to make some for dinner, all I have to do is defrost it in the refrigerator overnight, then bring it to a boil for about 15 minutes.

When researching how to put up corn, I encountered many different ways to go about it.  However, I just went with what my Mama told me to do, and her corn has always turned out fantastic.  I’ll be pulling out some of this to cook up soon, and I can’t wait to see how it tastes.

I also never knew there were so many fancy gadgets for corn!  Some people like removing corn from the cob.  I’ve never tried that, but there are many gadgets to help make that process easier.  The more you know!  Ha!

Joie Corn Star Interlocking Corn on the Cob Holders, 2 pairs (4 corn picks), YellowOLEKURT Cob Corn Stripper – 2 Sizes, Corn Cutter with Safety Handle, Corn Peeler for Corn on the Cob (Lemon Yellow)Corn Cob Stripper Peeler Remover Salad Making Cutter Easy Clean Corn Cob Stripper Stainless Steel Splitter ToolChef’n Cob Corn Stripper24 Pack Stainless Steel Corn Holders, Corn on The Grill, Corn on The Cob Skewers, Double Fork Sweet Corn Seat, Home & BBQ Cooking ForkPfaltzgraff Yorktowne Corn Dishes, Set of 4, MulticolorYYP Corn Cutter Peeler, Corn Cob Stripper with Cup [No Splatters or Mess], 304 Stainless Steel Corn on the Cob Remover Kitchen Tool, Corn Kernel Shucker Separator Slicer with Serrated Sharp Blade

Have you ever put up corn before?  Any tips or tricks to share?  Do you go about it differently?