Recipe: How to Freeze Sweet Corn #sp

Recently I was invited to visit a local corn grower by Monsanto - so off I went to rural Indiana for a fun day full of corn!!!

Here's a hint of my day - I got to pick sweet corn and it was just so beautiful out in the field!!! I mean - for a girl from Iowa - it doesn't get much better. We learned that when picking sweet corn - having the silk just starting to brown is perfect. Always good to get tips!

We were visiting a fellow bloggers farm - Leah from BeyerBeware.net. Along with sweet corn - she and her husband have feed corn as well as a bunch of animals. Now me being from a farming town - I'm comfortable with animals - but some of our blogger friends...

Not so much! This is Nicole from Brown Sugar Mama - she was about to pet the chicken on the left. :-)

 Leah & her husband were wonderful hosts and their farm is beautiful! They also had a great spread for lunch with fresh sweet corn, steak and paella. Man - we were stuffed!!!!

We also visited a grain elevator - being from a farming community - I was familiar but had never had a tour. The trucks actually drive in with the grain and it falls through the grates - who knew!?!

I also asked the Leah and the folks from Monsanto about the elephant in the room. I knew there was quite a bit of negative publicity about Monsanto. They all said the same thing - a few people have loud voices. Leah said her experience with them has been great and they really care about their customers. She said if you really want to know - talk to people that work with them day in and day out.

After the tour - we got to make our own smores with artisan marshmallows from 240sweet. These were AMAZING!!! She had a smores bar set up with a wide variety of marshmallows and crushed toppings (cocoa, graham crackers, toasted coconut, etc). We heated the marshmallow on a burner and rolled it in toppings. This is a fantastic idea - and how can you go wrong with flavors like Bourbon Brown Sugar and Salty Caramel Swirl!!! You have GOT to check these guys out!

 

At the end of our day - we got to take home as much sweet corn as we wanted! So I took home two dozen ears - Larry was skeptical - but I was confident. Leah had told me she had a fantastic and EASY way to freeze sweet corn and I was all ears! (get it - EARS!)

So here you go - the EASY way to freeze sweet corn (there's still time left - go to your local farmers market and get some and get started!)

Most people think you have to blanch the corn (cook it before you freeze) but Leah swears by this method - so I tried it for myself!

Step 1: Shuck a dozen ears of corn (pull off the husks and all the silk) and then cut the corn off the cob
Step 2: Put the corn in freezer bags
Step 3: On the stove, heat 3 cups water, 6 teaspoons sugar & 3 teaspoons salt. Once the salt & sugar are dissolved, remove from heat.
Step 4: Pour the brine into the bag - pour enough in to cover the corn (not so it's floating though)

And you're done! The ratio I provided makes enough for one dozen ears of corn - I had to double it (plus a little) for the two dozen that I had. I'm going to have fresh sweet corn all winter long! Woohoo!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Monsanto but all opinions are my own.