First things first, we picked the corn. We dropped the kids off at my parent's, grabbed three of my younger siblings and headed out to a local farm in which we own part of a CSA (community supported agriculture). Love our CSA and I have a blog post coming on that later!
It was lightly raining when we picked and we had to not only pick 20 dozen for us, but also 20 dozen for my family. I thought it would take forever, but was pleasantly surprised to find it went quickly and we were done in about 40 minutes. We left the field muddy, but determined to enjoy our day freezing.
About halfway through shucking the corn.
When we got back to my parents, we got to work right away shucking the corn (just ours, not my parent's). The pile of corn literally filled a whole table! But with all my siblings helping, and even Zoelle at one point, this work went quickly!
A tub full of corn anyone?
Next, we cut the corn off the cob. I wasn't thinking ahead on this part. It took awhile! We only had one electric knife and so I got that while Chris got just a plain knife. If anyone has any quick methods for cutting corn off the cob, send them my way!
Doesn't he look just thrilled?!? :)
Once it was all cut off, we moved to the actual blanching part. My recipe is adapted (just a bit) from one of my dad's relatives. My parents have used this one in the past, and it turns out great!
9 cups of corn
1 cup of water
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 Teaspoon of salt
Bring ingredients to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Set pan into cold ice water. Do not drain. Fill bags and freeze!
Blanching the corn.
We had two pans going at all times so that way I could get more done at once. I also doubled the recipe so it could go a bit faster.
Cooling down in ice water.
All in all, it took us about 6 hours from start to finish and we got 39 bags of sweet corn that we will definitely be enjoying in the dead of winter to remind us of the sweet days of summer!
Corn all ready for winter enjoyment!
So there you have it! Thank you to my parents and siblings for their help with the corn and with my kids. Couldn't have done it without you! :)
The last part threw me...you put the boiling pot of water into a sink full of ice cold water? And then you said bag it...do you drain it first or fill the boiling water and corn together in a bag?
ReplyDeleteYep..sink full of ice water to cool it down. Do not drain it, just fill up your bags to however full you want (we did 3 cups for our family). Does that help answer your question?
ReplyDeleteSo strain the boling water and just put hot corn in the bags?
ReplyDeleteNo, your corn should be cold as the boiling water/sugar/salt mixture (in the pot with the corn) cools down in the ice water. Then just put the now cooled mixture/corn in your bags.
ReplyDeleteso the liquid and corn do go in the bag together? Sorry I am so confused...lol
ReplyDeleteHaha..you are fine. Yes, they do go in the bag together! :)
ReplyDelete