I am a carnivore through and through, which I believe is evident by how we raise our own pigs, chickens, and lamb for our consumption. I dare say a meal for me is not truly complete without some kind of animal protein. However, as they say there is an exception to every rule, and my exception is corn on the cob.
From the Fourth of July until the weather really changes in September, I eat corn on the cob every chance I can. I even happily will break my “must have meat” rule and sacrifice animal protein for this seasonal delicacy. Its season is a flash in the pan, and while the eating is good I take full advantage.
All good things must come to an end and sadly that doesn’t exclude my unapologetic binge eating of corn. But thankfully, you can preserve the summers bounty and get that fresh summer taste in the depths of winter by properly freezing it. While it may not be corn on the “cob”, it tastes like it was freshly cut from the cob just picked, which is about as good as you can possibly get.
You can use this method to freeze as little or as much corn as you want. I try to freeze two bushels a year, and usually do it a bushel at a time. It’s one of those things that you have to get set up and you are going to make a mess anyway, so why not do a bunch?
What You Need:
- Fresh corn (make sure it’s fresh picked and not overly mature)
- Large stockpot with lid
- Clean food grade bucket
- Propane burner/propane (this makes a big mess so I always do it outside!)
- Sharp knife
- Bundt pan
- Large colander
- Large tongs
- Freezer Bags
- Cookie sheet/dish to put cut corn in
- Table to “work” on with a hose closeby
Directions:
- Get your work station set up. Fill your stock pot with water, and get it boiling on the propane burner. Fill the food grade bucket with very cold water (I use the garden hose). Clean off your table and have your bundt pan, colander, and knife ready with the cookie sheet or dish close by.
- While the water is boiling, get to shuckin’. This is admittedly the crappiest part that happens right off the bat, but sadly necessary.
- Once your water is at a full rolling boil and your corn is all shucked, add 8-12 ears of corn to the pot. Put the lid on, and wait until it reaches a full rolling boil again. This will take a couple minutes. Once it does, check your watch and time it for 2-3 minutes (2 minutes for smaller ears, 3 minutes for large ears) **The amount you add depends on the size of your pot and the corn. You aren’t looking to fill it, it cooks quickly. For a 22 quart pot, I add 10-12 ears at a time.
- After the time is up, quickly grab the corn with the tongs and put into your bucket of very cold water (try to minimize the amount of boiling water that goes in). You are blanching the corn, so you need the water to be very cold so it can stop the cooking process. Be prepared to dump and refill the water before each new batch of corn. It has to be cold!
- Once the corn is cool to the touch after a few minutes, put the ears in your large colander so the water can drain off.
- Then, grab an ear and place it vertically pointed side down into the hole in the bundt pan. Using your sharp knife, cut the kernels off the cob being careful to get as close to the cob as you can without actually cutting chunks of the cob off. Using the hole in the bundt pan prevents the cob from sliding around and slipping, while the kernels are captured below to reduce mess.**There is a tool that is specifically for cutting corn off the cob, which I used to use. However, it didn’t cleanly cut the kernels off and make it more of a “cream style” texture. I prefer whole kernels which you can only get from cutting with a knife.
- Continue cutting the kernels off the cob and dump into your larger container as your bundt pan fills up. Once you have prepared all of your corn, freeze it in bags (either ziploc or vacuum sealed) being careful to get all of the air out.
- Enjoy the fresh cut from the cob taste all winter long!
Once you get into a groove, you can do a lot of corn in a short amount of time. When you hit your stride, you will have corn boiling while some is cooling in the bucket and simultaneously cutting kernels off the cob at the same time. You don’t need to take it from Step 1-6 before starting back over again, multitasking is the name of the game!
I think I’m doing this this weekend. It sure beats canned corn and I like the trick of using a bundt pan.
Absolutely! I have canned corn in my pantry that’s 3 years old, yet corn never lasts more than a year. Canned just has that “canned” taste! This tastes like it was cut right off the cob! Please post back and let me know how it went!!
I did mine a little differently and I found it doesn’t taste as fresh. Going to follow you directions before corn season is over. Always enjoy your blog post and Instagram stories.. even if it’s just Cheryl not doing any work. Also thank you for taking the tune and answering my questions !
Did canned corn or frozen differently? This is the way I have been doing it for years, and I am a corn snob 😀 I assure you done right, you’ll love it! And thanks for following along as well as keeping tabs on Cheryl 😀
With such late gardens this year in VT, and in the interest of time, I’m taking the easiest way out and NOT blanching the corn. Just cutting off the cob and putting into freezer bags. Fingers crossed.
Just a warning it will not have the same texture as if it were blanched – which is just like fresh corn cut off the cob!
My family LOVES corn on the cob and this is how I grew up preserving corn. Our whole family would get together, the men would do the shucking and the cutting and the women would do the blanching and the bagging until it was all done and cleaned up. We would yield 250-400 quart size bags of corn for the freezer! Do you have any suggestions on how to freeze the whole cob of corn? I would really like to cut the cobs in half to have some gallon size bags of mini corn on the cobs.
That sounds like a very efficient division of labor!!! No, I have never frozen the whole cob. I know the texture wouldn’t be the same so I don’t even bother. I just eat it like I never will have it again in the summer haha