Preserving Corn via Freezing

Frozen corn is wonderful! Not only does it preserve your harvest or farmer's market purchase, but it is a very versatile food item. We both grew up preserving vegetables but frozen corn is definitely one of the easy ones. You can freeze corn by yourself or as an entire family unit. As a child I remember freezing corn together as a family on Corn Day. A fun, sticky, laughter filled day. You can read about it here: Corn Day: A Childhood Memory



This year I had the opportunity to freeze some corn from a local food stand. Timing and the hectic-ness of this season of life meant that I froze it by myself in between kids' naps and supper prep. So trust me...while it takes a little time, it's easy and can be done with two little ones under foot.

So how exactly do you freeze corn?  First step: Find yourself some corn!

We have grown our corn in the past but due to recently moving into our home and not being able to fully prepare our garden spot it did not produce like we had hoped for. To read more about that story hop on over to Gardening Like A Pioneer.

So the second best option is a local food stand or farmers market...hence the burlap sack of corn for me this year.

Since husking corn can be a little messy, I'd suggest doing so outside. I husked mine on my deck. With a cute helper handing me ears of corn. And trying to stack the corn sooooo high the pile threatened to fall over.... 😂

I set a clean bowl for the husked corn and a garbage bag for the husks on my deck table and started husking and removing the large clumps of corn silk. I do not worry about getting all the corn silk off at this stage. It is almost impossible to get it completely silk free and best to wait until you have the ear under running water.

 We feed the husks to the chickens afterwards who were quite happy with their share of the bounty.

Yum!

After husking, I bought the corn in and set it on the counter ready to be rinsed under running water to remove excess corn silk and check for bad spots. I will cut off bad ends or chunk out sections of kernels if they are damaged or bug eaten.

There are different kitchen utensils out there to help remove corn silk such as brushes or specialty tools. However, I find that rinsing the ear of corn under the water while rubbing my hand around the ear works just as well and effectively for me. 

Once rinsed, checked for bad spots, and de-silked, I pile it up next to the stove. 

Now for this next part I always refer to my well worn Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving 100th Anniversary Edition. You can pick one up at your local Walmart or similar stores. As of this posting the edition that is in print is the 37th edition and can be ordered directly from Ball at Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving 37th.

Personally, this is my go to preserving book for canning, freezing, and dehydrating. While I do get recipes from other sources, I use this book to confirm that they have food safe instructions in regards to the boil and canning times (especially when canning tomatoes or meat products).

To help preserve the corn nutrition, you will need to blanch the corn before freezing.  

Once the pot of water is at a rolling boil, I add several ears of corn, place the lid back on the pot, and boil for 5-6 minutes depending on how large the ears are per my Ball Book.

Once the timer beeps...out comes the corn and into cold water it goes! This dunk in cold water not only helps cool the corn down so you can handle it but also stops the cooking process so that you do not over cook the corn and loose more nutrition than you wanted to.  It can also get a little mushy if you don't.

After the corn is cool enough to handle, I place it into a holding container such as a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan or glass casserole dish. While it is not a vital step to place the corn in a staging dish, I find it helps speed up the process. This allows you the time to freshen your water so it's cold again...and you can cut your corn in between tasks, meaning you can keep your next batches of corn boiling. Where as...if you cut your corn straight out of the water, you may need to halt your boiling to be able to stay up with cutting the corn.

And now to the actual cutting of the kernels off the cobs.  I like to place my ear into a glass casserole dish in an effort to keep the corn confined.  Trust me when I say that you will only cut corn in your kitchen once in your life before you figure out a way to keep that sticky messy corn milk from getting on every surface in your kitchen.  IT WILL take longer to clean up that mess afterwords than it took you to actually process the corn......

 Just hold the corn ear in one hand like the photo below...take the knife...start at the top of the cob and cut down. Try not to cut tooo close to the cob otherwise you get some of the cob in your corn.  If you get the cob in your corn its kind of like when someone makes scrambled eggs and leaves a piece of the shell in it, someone will get a crunchy surprise.  Its not the the end of the world...just not as nice. A couple swipes and you'll figure it out real quick. 😃  Now some people do not like to cut as close to the cob as I do and that is fine too.  If you do chose to not cut as close you can "milk" the corn.  This is done by scraping the back side of the knife down the cob just like you did with the sharp side.  This will pull out the juice from the part of the kernel that was left on the cob.  Just another yummy way of doing it.... Though in my opinion it leads to a more sticky mess in the kitchen....

Now make sure when you are cutting corn you steal a few bits.... Especially those long strips of corn.  The longer the stripe the better it tastes.  😉

 Look at those ears! A sign of the hard work you just did! And the cobs will be a nice chicken treat!

 Yummy for my tummy in the months to come!  Even the youngest in our family will get to enjoy it AFTER it has been mushed in the baby food processor.  Nothing like raising your children of of local grown produce through our harsh northern winters.

We also like to freeze some corn on the cob. So after the corn has boiled and cooled...I just cut the ears in half.  These are a nice treat in the middle of winter when we are needing a taste of summer.  Mixed with my oven BBQ chicken....you almost forget about the freezing temps and snow on the ground.

 Ta Da!!

 All laid out ready for packaging.

I put my corn in freezer Ziploc or other off brand freezer bags. I like to include the food item and date. I've had times where someone's convinced me to skip writing this information because "we'll remember..." Trust me...corn you can identify, but beef and venison look awfully alike months down the road in the freezer... Que mystery meat dinner 😉 Date is also important in case you do not use all your frozen corn up before the next season and end up with two years in your freezer. You will want a date so you can eat up your old corn first.

 My favorite photo! Corn kernels and whole corn ready to freeze and cobs ready for the chickens!!

 One of my favorite bowls full of corn!

 Whole corn ready for the freezer and yummy meal this winter! I'll relish eating them while the snow flies this winter!!

Let me know if you liked this post or if it was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions!

Remember to always reference a reliable source such as BALL when canning or preserving foods!

Happy preserving!

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy these!
Gardening Like A Pioneer
Corn Day: A Childhood Memory

Get your own Ball Preserving book and learn how to preserve your gardens bumper crop this year:
Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving 37th ed.