Putting up corn

I’m freezing ears of corn which is a pretty big job given I have over 400 ears. I pick the largest, nicest ears to make corn on the cob. The remaining smaller or damaged ears are made into creamed corn. I have about 230 ears of corn in the freezer so far. Now I’m working on the creamed corn.

How to make creamed corn? Shuck, silk, and wash the ears of corn. Use a vegetable peeler to slice the caps off the kernels on the cob, then use the back of the peeler to rake down the ear pushing the corn into a bowl. When all the corn is cut and raked, put it into a double boiler and heat for about 40 minutes. I do this by eye, not by time. When the corn congeals, it is ready to pack and freeze. I put in a small amount of canning salt as in about a level teaspoon per quart of creamed corn. I use heavy duty freezer containers filling them to the top then putting on the lid. I write the date on the lid so we know when it was stored. It is important to cool the corn rapidly after heating so I put the sealed containers into an ice water bath to bring them down below room temperature, then put them in the freezer. Done properly, creamed corn can be stored about 2 years retaining excellent flavor.

3 Likes

Do you have any advice for dried corn? This is my first year getting some. I’d like to make cornmeal, but I was wondering if there were any diseases I needed to worry about, like vomitoxin in wheat.

The diseases that affect corn all infect or kill the plant except smut. You will know if smut hits your corn. If making cornmeal, best to get a variety developed for the purpose. There are a few open pollinated varieties that work pretty well. Sandhill Preservation has a decent list of dent corn varieties.

I put up 240 ears of corn on the cob and 8 quarts of creamed corn from a total of about 450 ears of corn harvested. I have another row of corn that is not yet mature.