Thursday, September 8, 2011

Stock Your Freezer--Easy Frozen Corn

 Photo Source: Greencolander
Storing food in your freezer is a great way to add nutritious foods to your food storage.  Now is the perfect time of year to freeze fresh fruits and veggies to eat later in the year.  Even if you only have the freezer that is attached to your fridge you have plenty of room to add to your food storage. 

Freezing Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
  • If space is at a premium.  Store everything in heavy duty Ziploc FREEZER bags.  Don’t skimp on the bags. Buy the heavy duty freezer bags.   Freeze flat, and then the frozen bags can be stacked.  It will look like a pile of record albums.
  •  Frozen foods need to be rotated frequently.   Fruits will last 6 to 12 months, fruit pies unbaked will last eight months (more about freezing pies later).
  • If you are planning on adding a lot of food to your freezer, then make sure to clean it out first and then adjust the temperature down.  You want the food to freeze quickly so it is best to add several smaller batches to your freezer than to add one huge batch. 
There are lots of great things you can freeze now and enjoy later.  Over the next few days I’ll share some of my personal favorites.  First up is…

Corn Off The Cob--Easy Frozen Corn

Corn is one of the foods that I have been hesitant to can or freeze myself.  Mostly because I think what I buy in the grocery store is pretty good.  Then I tried a friend’s home frozen corn.  Wow it was amazing, and in the middle of February it was a delicious reminder of the warm summer months.  One of the things I particularly like about this frozen corn recipe is that you do NOT need to blanch the corn.  Wahoo!  Easy and delicious. Since our garden is nonexistent this year I purchased the corn I used from the local corn stand I bought 36 ears and spent $6.00.  Not a bad price to have amazing corn all winter long.

Things To Know:
  • The recipe makes about 16 cups of corn. 
  • I freeze the corn in quart bags and put 2 cups in each bag.

  • Lay the bags flat on a cookie sheet and freeze, once they are solid you are stack them vertically to save space and make it easier to find in your freezer.
  • Label the bags before you fill them. I did not label mine first this time and  when I went to label them I did a terrible job, much easier to do it first.     
  • If you want to reduce the amount of butter or half and half, it will still work, just be sure to stir often while it is baking. 
  • I use my cast iron enameled dutch oven (not the kind you take camping)  to bake the corn in, and it works well. But any pan that is large enough and has a lid will work great.  
  • To cut the corn off the cob. Place the husked uncooked corn in a bowl or on a cookie sheet with a lip.  Slice the kernals off the corn, try to get the entire kernal but not any of the cob.  It is a little bit of an art but after a cob or two you will get the hang of it.  
 Photo Source: by whitneyinchicago

Corn Off The Cob—Easy Frozen Corn

36 ears of corn, husked
1 pound butter
1 pint half and half
1 teaspoon salt

Cut corn from ears and place kernels in a large dutch oven.   
Add butter and half and half. 
Bake at 325 for 1 hour with the lid on. 
Stir occasionally. Let cool.  Package and freeze. 


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