In the early part of August our sweet corn ripens.  We generally grow 6 rows of it so we will have enough to freeze for the winter.

My husband picked 2 wirebaskets full of ears for us to process yesterday.    I helped him to shuck it.  That means we took the green corn leaves off of the ears.   He brushed the corn to rid it of excess corn silk.

After all the shucking was done, he fed the shucks to the cattle who really enjoyed it.  We, on the other hand, got the ears.

The kitchen preparation included covering the table with several layers of newspaper.  When the kernels are cut off of the ear, the milk of the kernel tends to splash.  Since it is starchy and sweet, it can stick on the surface and be stubborn to wash off.

We plunge the ear corn into boiling water and let it cook for 5 minutes.  That blanches the corn.  From there the ear corn is placed in a dishpan of cold water to cool until it is easy to handle.  When sufficiently cooled, the corn is cut off of the ear into a pan.  When the tops of the kernels are cut off, then I drag a knife blade from the bottom of the ear to the top*.  In that way the milk of the corn is pressed out and added to the whole kernel.    The milk’s sweetness blends with the tasty kernels and makes a great vegetable for our table.

I package the sweet corn in freezer bags.  We may get to freeze corn on two different days each year.  The rest is used as corn-on-the-cob.  Aw shucks, it’s great!

*NOTE: The bottom to top method prevents milk from from the corn cob from splattering  into my face while I work.  If I scrape the blade from the top to the bottom I get sprinkled in the face and have quite a time with clean up.

photo credit: m+A+s via photo pin cc
photo credit: KitAy via photo pin cc