From Field to Freezer: My first time experiences in freezing fresh corn + How to Steps!

It's hot and humid here in Indiana and produce its growing like crazy! Last year I took a dip into the canning world by canning my own green beans that were fresh out of my Grandma's garden. The idea of serving my family fresh food that I had canned gave me a sense of pride as a wife and mother in knowing that I knew exactly where those green beans had came from! This year I decided to jump on the bandwagon of freezing corn! (Fun fact about me: I do not eat green beans or corn!) My grandparents freeze corn every year and this year was going to be like any other so I jumped on the opportunity for them to teach me their techniques so I can start my own yearly tradition! Last night was the night! I bought 3 dozen ears of corn from some of our family friends and headed to Mamaw and Papaws with both kiddos! 

This is how my oldest stayed entertained!

Here is the step by step method I learned:

1. Shuck the corn. We took all the husk and hairs off the cob being sure to cut off any bad or rotten parts of the corn.

2. Boiled the cobs using a large outside deep fryer filled with water. Once the cobs came to a boil, we boiled the batch for 3 minutes. (It's a messy job, we did everything outside on the back porch!)

3. Using the blanching method we removed the corn and put it directly into ice water that we had in coolers until the corn cobs were cool.

4. Once cooled, we removed the corn from the cooler and took the corn off the cob using tools like this...

5. After we had blanched all the corn and cut it off the cob. We added the ingredients and began bagging. Below is the receipt we used.

2 cups corn

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup of water (we used the water from the fryer that we had boiled the corn in to add more flavor.)

6. After we combined the ingredients we put them in a quart size freezer bag, sealed the bag, and flattened it out for freezing! (Since I do not eat corn, leaving only my husband and 1 year old to share the bag, I did smaller bags and put a little more than half of each batch in each bag so that we don't waste any!) 

7. Done deal! Stack in the freezer to freeze! Don't forget to put date your bags!;)

Over all it was a fun experience and the best part of it all was making memories that will last a lifetime with my grandparents and learning new traditions that I can someday pass to my littles! If you have thought about canning or freezing your own foods but are like me and just not sure it's worth the hassel, I'm here to tell you it is a lot of work and a messy job but the reward is so much more! I encourage you to try it at least just once! And maybe some day I will be brave enough to put out my very own garden...probably once my littles are big enough to help!! Hehe! 

Enjoy your day!

Ashley