How to Freeze Sweet Corn (For the Year!)
Is there anything better than fresh sweet corn on the Cobb? I love the sweet reminder of abundance and the soft transition to Autumn.
We set out on a journey of self sufficiency and part of that is learning to preserve (store) our own food. We have a few canned goods started but no pressure canner so we are a bit limited in what foods we can safely can.
The solution? Freezing. Freezing stores most of the nutrients and flavour and makes for easy work of adding it to recipes. In this video, I was working with 58 ears of corn as we don’t tend to eat it more than 1 or 2 times a month. Adjust this number for your family.
*Note- 58 ears provided me 13 freezer bags of kernels, 5 bags of 4 full ears and 4 pints of salsa. If you are just freezing, 3 Cobbs will get you around 2 cups of kernels which is how much I stored per bag.
Step 1: To freeze corn, you have to start with blanching. Blanching just means to briefly boil it and rapidly cool it down to bring out the sweetness and keep the nutrients in tact. I have seen some recipes that skip this step but you will have to adjust cooking time in your recipes to ensure it doesn’t get mealy and that just seems like more work than it’s worth.
After you shuck the corn, boil them in batches of 5-8 Cobbs for 5 minutes. I did add some salt to my water to really bring out the flavour.
Step 2: Dunk the Cobbs in ice cold water until they are cool to the touch and then let them completely dry on a clean dish towel while you work on the next batch.
Step 3: Place as many Cobbs as you use at a time, into a bag (I did 2 full and 8 halves per bag) and then use a vacuum sealer to remove all of the air from the cob. This is the vacuum sealer I use.
If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, the corn will not store as long but this is still always a better place to start than nothing if your goal is food freedom! Make sure you try and remove as much air as you can. I have heard of people using a straw to suck the air out, much like a vacuum sealer!
I added a small scoop of butter to my corn so I could cook the butter with the corn when I am ready to use it. I am pretty excited!! This corn is now ready to freeze.
Step 4: If you would like to freeze individual kernels, cut them off of the Cobb after blanching and drying.
Step 5: Vacuum seal the kernels in 2 cup increments (that is roughly how much is in a can of corn.) Now, I had no problems with achieving a seal on the moist setting and ensuring the bag was flat but I did read a tip that suggested you freeze the kernels flat on a baking sheet first before you vacuum seal and that actually sounds like a great tip!! If you are having issues with the seal, try it out!
I really wanted to can some corn but it turns out that isn’t a good idea unless you have a pressure canner so I found this recipe for corn salsa instead. Canning can open you up to bacteria if done incorrectly so always follow a recipe that has been certified and don’t add your own ingredients. With that being said, this recipe was pretty tasty but I did add some salt and sugar before using it. I would blitz it up with an immersion blender if I made it in the future to make it a texture I enjoy a bit more.
Rather watch a video?
