Every year, we grow a lot of vegetables in our garden. Some of them we use straight from the garden like lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, and many herbs. Others we can pick fresh and store them for several months like potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots. I usually can other vegetables by themselves or with other vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and green beans. Some vegetables we prefer to preserve in the frozen form.
Not Growing Corn this Year
For several years I grew corn (maize) in the garden, but this year, we downsized the garden to the beds we were able to put within the fence and in our eight raised beds so corn was one of several vegetables that we didn’t grow this year.
That doesn’t mean that I was not able to get corn this year because I found another source. I purchased corn from one of the Amish at our local farmers’ market. I purchased the corn at the end of the market so that I was able to buy the corn at a reduced price.
The vendors at our farmers market often don’t have vegetables at the end of a market. However, if they do, other vendors will often purchase those vegetables at a discount which is what I did that day.
The Simplicity of Freezing Corn
We had some corn on the cob that evening, but the rest of it I put into the freezer. Freezing corn is the easiest way to preserve this vegetable.
The corn I purchased was still in its husks, so I had first to husk the corn ears. I learned this trick for easily removing the husks. Trim the stem end of the corn using a sharp knife. Cut enough that the stem is completely removed, and the husk is detached from the bottom of the cob, but not so much that you lose a lot of kernels.
Once all the corn is shucked or in other words, husked, I then blanched the ears. I dropped them in boiling water to boil them for two minutes then removed them to cool in the sink. Many people would cool the corn in ice water. I usually leave them in the sink until they cool naturally.
Once the corncobs cooled, I cut the corn off the cob. It would be cool to have one of those corn-cutting tools, but I don’t, but a knife works perfectly fine. I use a cutting board as the cutting surface. The cutting board has a trough around the board’s outside edge so that the corn stays on the board. I hold the corn cob’s most level side against the cutting board. While holding the corn cob level end tight against the cutting board, I start cutting from the top. I cut the corn rows by pulling the knife from top to bottom.
Once I cut all the corn kernels from the cob, I then place the corn kernels in a plastic quart-sized freezer bag until I have enough corn to fill the bag. I mark the bag with “corn” and the date and then place the bag in the freezer.
Canning was an Alternative
It’s a great feeling to have another vegetable variety in the freezer. I could have canned the corn, but since we enjoy frozen corn so much more, we are glad that we decided to freeze it, but I could have canned it. It would have been a matter of preparing like I did for freezing, putting corn in prepared jars, covering the corn with boiling water, adding a little salt (teaspoon to a quart), cleaning the jar rims applying lids and rings to finger tightness. Pressure can 55 minutes for pints and 85 minutes for quarts.
Are you putting up corn (maize) this year? What method are you using?
My Gardening Related Books
If you’re interested in putting in a vegetable garden this year, I have written several books that can help you get started. All available on Amazon.
Gourmet Weeds
Simply Vegetable Gardening
The Survival Garden
The Four Seasons Vegetable Garden
Help From Kelp
Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard
The Perpetual Homesteader 