‘Putting Up’ Fresh Corn

Thanks to my friends Monica and Amy, I am lucky enough to get a sack of fresh corn to put up every year.

Amy's family has a farm near Bachelor, Louisiana, and they grow corn (of different varieties).  I am partial to the "sweet corn", so Amy brings a sack to Monica's for me each year (Monica lives not far from me).

And, each year, I take an afternoon to "put up" the corn, with this easy method:

Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil (the size of the pot depends on the number of ears of corn you are working with.  I like to use my crawfish pot and boil them all at once).  Shuck the corn, removing all of the silk (with the aid of the gentle use of a vegetable brush), and boil the corn for 10 minutes (for average sized ears; larger ears for a minute or two more, smaller ears for less).  Immediately after the timer 'dings', remove the corn from the boiling water and immerse into ice water (for the same amount of time they boiled).

After your timer 'dings' for the cool-down stage, remove the ears from the water and place on clean towels laid out on the cabinet.  Allow ears to reach room temperature (30-45 minutes), and then they are ready to be 'put up':  frozen, refrigerated (for no longer than a few days), removed from cob and made into maque choux, chow-chow, etc.

I like to use my Food Saver-brand sealer to keep them fresh in the freezer, so I put the corn in the freezer overnight and then seal them (if I try to seal them 'fresh', they are too juicy and the sealer won't seal them properly).

Now I have "fresh" corn on the cob to last me until next year (if I can pace myself.... ha!)

Oh, while I was in the process of cooling the corn, Mannie decided that she wanted to go 'bobbing' for corn!!  She was successful, and enjoyed the first ear of the season.

She was actually eating it like a human!!  Not crunching through the cob; she was methodically removing the kernels just like we do, with her front teeth!!

So, because I had to go inside to set the timer, Mannie got to enjoy the first ear of corn of the season; I enjoyed the second....