The BEST Way I Know to Freeze Sweet Corn!

 

 

If you LOVE corn smothered in butter......you're going to LOVE this method for freezing sweet corn! When I first heard of this method (because it's not really a "recipe"), my husband and I would get together with one of our neighbors and some mutual friends for a "corn freezing party". We would set up a "corn assembly line". The guys would husk the corn. Us gals would do the prep work. Then everyone would pitch in and do the packaging and clean-up. At some point during the day, there was always potluck food involved. It made for a fun, productive day!

 

This year though, everyone has been so CRAZY busy, it's been hard to find a good day that works for everyone. Even though it's much more fun to do this as a group, I knew if we were going to have corn in the freezer this winter, I'd have to do this by myself. It's a very easy method, though, so I knew it was do-able.

 

When my husband and I lived in the Rogue Valley, we grew our own corn. LOTS of it! But. Here in eastern Oregon, where the growing season is SO short (and even SHORTER if you live in the higher elevations like we do)......we have to depend on farmer's markets to get our corn. That's okay, I think it's important to support local farmers whenever you can.

 

Okay, enough of my babbling.....let's get started:

 

 

1. Husk your corn. I found this helpful tip SOMEWHERE on Pinterest, but for the life of me, I can't find where I pinned it. Anyway, the tip is to cut about 1 inch off the bottom of your ear of corn and it makes it easier to remove the silks along with the husks. Works pretty slick!

 

2. Wash to remove as many stray silks that refused to come off.

 

 

 

3. Cut the kernels (about 9-10 ears per batch) off into a large cooking pot. My husband bought this kernel cutter gadget from The Pampered Chef. It works really good, but then again, a knife works good too. Personal preference I guess.

 

 

4. When you have the kernels removed from about 9-10 ears, add 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), 2 cups of water, salt and pepper if desired (really, you could add any seasoning you like....) and 1 Tbsp. sugar (the sugar is from the original recipe, we've left it out a lot of times and the corn is still AMAZING). Cook on low to medium heat until the butter melts, then continue cooking for about 20 minutes, stirring often to keep from burning on the bottom (that's a life lesson we learned the hard way).

 

5. Remove from heat and let cool completely. While this batch is cooling, start your next batch.

 

6. Spoon the cooled corn into freezer bags. We used a 1 cup measuring cup as our "spoon" and figured about 1 cup per person.....if you have normal eaters you might want to figure 1/2 cup per person (also, for figuring sake, figure about 1-1/2 ears of corn will yield about 1 cup). Squeeze out any excess air and seal the bags. Lay the bags flat and freeze.

 

 

 

That's it! No boiling or blanching and burning your fingers from "still hot in the center" corn (wait, that might just be me....). So, gather your family and a few friends and have your own "corn freezing party".

 

Happy corn freezing!

 

Lori