Maybe, just maybe, you want to start preserving food from your garden, the local farmers’ market, or from a bountiful harvest that someone has graciously gifted you. One of the easiest forms of food preservation is freezing food. More often than not, when it comes to vegetable produce it follows a series of steps of cleaning, blanching your produce, shocking it to stop the cooking process, then bagging and freezing it. It really is simple, but I feel like a good refresher each year that you go to freeze sweet corn or other produce doesn’t hurt! (I even had to ask my mom a couple of questions!)
Did you know there is MORE than corn in Iowa?!
Iowa may be known as the state that has cornfields for miles and miles. Which may be true, but people need to understand that most of the corn you see growing in fields is NOT sweet corn. Sweet corn is what humans eat. Most of what you are seeing is field corn, which is used to make ethanol, animal feed and other products. There are a few farms in Iowa that produce popcorn and other varieties for other purposes. Field corn is picked after it has turned brown, at full maturity, when the kernels turns hard, anytime the moisture content of the kernels is 30% or less (17-18% is a good spot), to preserve the kernels of corn. Sweet corn, on the other hand is picked when the husk (the outside of the ear of corn that covers the golden kernels) and the moisture content is more like 70%. This is GOOD, that means that our human teeth can bite through those plump, sweet, juicy kernels.
Did you know Iowa is up there in the top ten of the national rankings for other agriculture products such as: pork, eggs, soybeans, turkey and red meat production? So there…you can’t say that Iowa ONLY has corn fields…we have other stuff too!
Now, down to the nitty gritty. Let’s talk about how to preserve some of that delicious sweet corn during the summer months so you can enjoy this delectable vegetable throughout the winter months – straight from a homegrown Iowan. Here are the steps of how I froze 20 quarts of sweet corn in two hours, while taking care of a three year old and 1.5 year old.
Steps of How to Freeze Sweet Corn:
- Prepare your kitchen/cooking space.
- It is important to keep all surfaces that your corn will come into contact with clean, and with the least amount of bacteria possible. In order to do this, I would recommend washing all of the dishes, getting them put away, then preparing your sink and surfaces with either Thieves Household Cleaner by YoungLiving Essential Oils (1 capful Thieves Household Cleaner and 2 cups water) or bleach (1 Tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water)
- Get children activities (and let’s be real, snacks) so they are occupied while you are dealing with the hot water
- Put on socks and shoes. My mom always told me this when we were canning or freezing items, and this makes a lot of sense. If you happen to spill something hot on your feet, you at least have a chance of saving the skin on your legs and feet. You can quickly remove socks and shoes after hot liquids have spilled on them to stop the burning without immediately losing the skin.
- Shuck your corn
- Take the green husk off of the outside, and clean off as many silks (the strings) as you scan
- Set out all of the equipment you’ll need while you have your water boiling in your stock pot
- Tongs – long enough to take corn out of boiling water in your stock pot
- Cold water and ice – I like to use our two compartment sink for corn processing. I fill the side closest to the stove with cold water and ice, and leave the dish drain in the other side to set corn to dry before cutting it off of the cob.
- Dish drain, colander or other draining device (cooling rack over a sheet pan, etc.)
- Cutting board
- Sharpened Chef Knife, or an electric knife
- Funnel cake/Angel food cake pan
- Clean dish rag
- Bowls – 2 large
- One for cobs
- One for sweet corn cut off of the cob
- Freezer bags
- Quart sized, freezer style
- Measuring cup – ½ cup or ⅔ cup
- Permanent marker
- Sheet pan/Cookie sheet
- Once your water comes up to a boil gently slide ears of corn into the water, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. All ears of corn should be covered in water. In my large canner I could comfortably fit 12 ears, and in my smaller stock pot I could fit six ears.
- Set the timer for 4 ½ minutes, according to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
- Take each ear out of the water using your tongs, and put directly into the ice water bath you have prepared. (Steps 4-6 are called blanching! This is the process of cooking for a brief period of time, then rapidly cooling to stop the cooking process)
- Start another batch of corn in the pots when the water has returned to a boil.
- Label bags using the permanent marker with what you are putting in the bag and the date, including the year.
- Corn stays frozen well for a long time, but really it is best if you use it up one year to 18 months after it goes into the freezer for the best quality.
- Allow the corn to sit in the ice water bath for 4 minutes, or until the corn feels cool (remember: the cob will retain heat for some time)
- Once the corn is cooled, set the clean dish rag over the hole of your angel food cake/funnel cake pan and cut the kernels off of the cob. The dish rag holds two functions; 1-to cover the hole and 2-so you don’t cut the top of your cake pan when cutting the kernels off.
- An electric carving knife comes in handy for this.
- Once your pan is full of kernels, move them to a large bowl.
- Once your large bowl is full of kernels, start bagging corn.
- I like to use a ½ cup or ⅔ cup measuring cup to fill quart sized freezer bags. Simply because I can load up the cup and still fit it in the opening of the bag without spilling.
- I put about 550-560 grams (1.25 lb) per bag to allow for space to squish out the air, close the bag, then be able to move the corn around to make a flat bag.
- Put the flattened bags onto cookie sheets/sheet pans to make for easy transfer to your freezer. Flattened bags allow for easier storage and for better stacking abilities.
- Once your pan is full of kernels, move them to a large bowl.
- An electric carving knife comes in handy for this.
- Repeat steps 4-6 in batches until all of your corn is blanched. Then repeat the other steps until you are done with all of your corn.
- Put the corn in the freezer in flattened stacks.
- Pull the bags out of the freezer as you need them, use the microwave to thaw out, instructions below.
How to reheat frozen corn
- Take corn out of the bag, place into a bowl with about an inch of water.
- Microwave for 3 minutes 30 seconds, stir, then put it back in for another 3 minutes 30 seconds.
- Drain.
- Top with butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper
- Enjoy!
I hope this gives you a look at how to freeze your sweet corn and make steps into your preservation journey. Remember, it’s just a few steps, and the more you get used to the process the easier it will become with other produce items. Clean, blanch your produce, shock it to stop the cooking process, then bag and freeze it.
I’m proud of you for trying out different food preservation methods, like freezing, and I’m cheering you on! This is the start of something GOOD!
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