For the past couple of years my hubby has been becoming a gardener.
It's not the type of thing one becomes overnight.
It takes work and lots, and lots, and
lots of reading. Not to mention the fact that he's doing organic gardening which takes more time and more reading.
It's worth it in the long run to know that we are not poisoning our kids with pesticides and we are being environmentally responsible with any runoff that might come from our property.
I help when I can but my cake business keeps me pretty much married to the kitchen during the week and I work a part-time job on the weekends.
Given how busy my schedule is I'm rarely able to get out by myself for any length of time. Meeting a friend for coffee is such a treat that I can't really describe the enjoyment I get from it.
Last week I arranged to meet a girlfriend of mine in the evening at Starbucks for a much,
much needed break. We were there barely 30 minutes when hubby started blowing up my phone with panicked messages about the corn going bad. I joked about having a big party over the weekend and he informed me that the corn wouldn't last that long.
Evidently, the bugs had gotten to it.
Bugs are an organic gardeners nemesis. We don't use the high powered deadly pesticides that others use and therefore our 'crops' are more susceptible to infestation.
So...there I sat at Starbucks, desperately trying to enjoy my caramel Frappuccino, researching methods for freezing corn while not ignoring a friend that I haven't seen in six weeks.
Fortunately, the information isn't in-depth because the panicked text messages kept coming and it was nearly impossible to hold a conversation or concentrate on what I was trying to read.
We agreed that my assistance was needed at home so I hugged my BFF and headed home to calm the hubby and get to work.
The good news is that it looked pretty simple. There are basically 9 steps and most are not difficult.
1. Pick
2. Husk
3. Clean
4. Blanche
5. Cool
6. Dry
7. Remove from the cob
8. Bag
9. Freeze
Easy? Yes.
Messy? Very.
I returned home to a wheelbarrow full of corn and a totally freaked out hubby desperate to save all of his hard work from this summer.
I showed him what I had found and got him to settle down and relax we got to work on the, more than, 6 dozen ears of corn that needed to be saved.
We make a great team!
He husked, I scrubbed, blanched and cooled the cobs in an ice bath. After they were cool hubby did the drying, cutting and bagging.
After hubby husked the corn I scrubbed that silks from the cobs and put the pots of water on the stove to blanche the corn.
Once the water was ready I put four ears in the pot and removed them after the water returned to a boil.
The ears were then put in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and then inspected for silks that I missed when cleaning and moved to a towel to dry before cutting.
After they were dry hubby hubby cut the corn from the ears and we bagged it for the freezer. We kept the best looking ones to freeze on the cob so we could enjoy a little summer during the winter months.
Once the corn was bagged, it was submerged in water to squeeze all of the air out before the bags were sealed. This will prevent ice crystals from forming around the corn which would give it freezer burn. Contrary to popular belief it is not "protective ice."
The end result is a freezer full of delicious sweet corn that we can enjoy once the weather gets cold.
Hopefully this week, I'll be able to go back for coffee with my girlfriend. Maybe this time I'll be able to finish a sentence!
