Yesterday (Friday), I spent the day with my grandmother, aka Mamoo, and helped her put up her sweet corn in the freezer. My little "baby" cousins (who are actually my cousin's children, but who knows what that technically makes them to me) Kaylee and Lexi were there, also. I learned a couple of things - 1) Four year olds don't understand words like slack, basically, and cooperate. 2) Worms really, really love sweet corn. I wish I had my camera already, because I would have loved a picture of those gooey, creepy little crawlers. Blech. There was one in probably 99% of the cobs (of which there were about 100). There were big worms, little worms, and in between worms...and they all damaged the tips of the corn. Still, despite the worms, I enjoyed spending time with my grandmother and putting away the corn. It's fun work, to me, and I like helping my grandmother. It did have me wondering, though, how "city folk" spend time with their grandparents. Do they just hang out? Do they eat? Do they cook? Do they sew? Do they paint and make things? Do they have small gardens in their tiny backyards? It just makes me wonder. My fondest memories of my grandmothers almost always involve us doing something, like sewing, crocheting, gardening, cooking, painting, or putting away food from their gardens. My grandmothers are the ones who taught me to do some of my favorite things. Mamoo taught me more about outdoor farming, and Granny taught me more about domestic and creative things, including putting away fruits and vegetables (both of them garden) and making soap. I was blessed to have the grandmothers I have.
Anywho, I thought I would walk you guys through the process of putting up sweet corn, in case you're interested in it but don't know how.
Step 1: Pick the corn, obviously. =) You can tell it's ready when the silk coming out of the top is brown.
Step 2: Shuck the corn. This part is where you may encounter worms. You've got to get all of the husks and the silks (those annoying stringy thing within the husk that people often compare children's hair to) off of the cobs. A vegetable brush is great for ridding the ears of silk.This is also the time for worm removal; yuck, I know. Save the husks for your compost pile!
Step 3: Wash the corn, and remove damaged parts. You will likely find ears that have been damaged by worms. Cut off all of the yucky, damaged part (usually the tip, but sometimes the worms go in the side. If they have gone in the side and damaged too much, just discard the ear). Be sure that the corn is nice and clean. Now is also a great time to remove any resilient silks.
Step 4: Alright, it's time to cook your corn! Put the ears into boiling water (don't overfill your pot - you will most likely have to cook several batches) and allow them to boil for 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of the ears. Remove the corn from the water, and spray the ears with cold water in your sink to cool them off until you can handle them without burning yourself.
Step 5: Okay, this step is optional. If you want corn off the cob, you can now slice the kernels off. If you want corn on the cob, leave them as they are. If you want to cream your corn, which is what we did, then you will need one of these. Of course, it doesn't have to be stainless steel - we used a wooden one (picture below). These instruments are really neat. You just rub the corn down the tool, which should be over a bowl, and it cuts the kernels off and creams them. Just rub every side of the cob, and then - if you want - use a butter knife to scrape a bit more milk out of the corn. Be careful not to cream or cut your fingers or hands!
Step 6: Once you've got all of the cobs creamed (or prepared in whatever way you chose), it's time to put the corn away. We put our into zip lock freezer bags, but any kind of freezer container with a good seal will work. Be sure to label it with the date included, and to press out as much air as possible. The less air inside the bags, the longer the corn will last and resist freezer burn. Stick the corn in the freezer, and voila! You've saved your sweet corn to be enjoyed in whatever season you want.
(Of course, you could also can your corn, but that would be a much more time consuming and detailed process.)
-Rach in Wonderland
No comments:
Post a Comment