How to Freeze Fresh Corn

Nothing beats fresh corn on the cob in the summer. But since that only lasts for a short time, finding a way to capture that summer fresh flavor is essential. In this quick and easy tutorial, I will show you how to freeze fresh corn.

I am really excited to grow my own corn in the future so that I can have an abundance of ears to freeze for the rest of the year.

So far, I have not been able to preserve enough to last us until the next summer, but I have been able to snag quite a few extra ears from u-pick farms and produce markets. This year I found a great deal of 8 ears for a dollar! I was amazed and grabbed up a bunch to be able to freeze up.

Why I blanch my corn before freezing

Sometimes when I freeze vegetables, like green beans, I do not blanch them before sticking them in the freezer. I find that the texture and flavor holds up well without it.

With corn, however, I do blanch for a few minutes in boiling water. I wanted to check on the time to blanch to be sure I had it right so I went to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. They suggest corn to be blanched for 4 minutes for the preparation I am using. The reason why is that it cleans the surface and stops enzyme reactions. You want to stop the enzyme reaction because it slows down the loss of color and flavor and keeps the texture best while frozen.

What I didn’t realize before was that under blanching is actually worse than no blanching at all! Go read why at their site.

How to start with blanching the corn

First of all, you want to husk all your corn. Get as much silk cleaned off as you can.

While husking the corn, you can have a big pot of water heating up to boil. I like to do this outside on our camp stove burner that I use for all my canning. That way the house doesn’t heat up.

At the same time fill the sink with cold water and add some ice so that it is really cool. I have to add a ton of ice in Arizona because the water doesn’t come out of the faucet even close to cool in the summer! You can also do this in a very large bowl or pot if needed.

Once the water is boiling in your pot, add the corn. Watch for it to start boiling again. Then set the timer for 4 minutes. About half of the way though, give it a stir so that the corn is turned.

When the four minutes is up, take the corn out and immediately add it to the cold water. It should stay in the ice bath for about 4 minutes also. Then take it out and put it on a towel to dry off.

You can work in batches if needed, depending on how much corn you have. And also on how big your pot and sink are.

How to Freeze Corn off the cob

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Now comes the fun part! Well that depends on the tools you have. Before this year, I always used a knife to cut the corn off the cob. I did not enjoy that at all. But this year I decided to splurge (for less than $10! YAY) and get a corn kernel remover. I am so happy that I got this little tool. It saved me a ton of time and was way less messy than it was to remove the kernels with a knife.

So, once your corn has all been blanched, get out a big bowl or a tray with sides. You will need to cut off all the corn from the cob. It was a quick job with the corn kernel remover.

I did notice, though, that it was a little more difficult to remove the kernels from the ears of corn that sat in the ice bath in the sink for a little too long (crying baby interrupted me about half way through). They should have only been in the water 3 or 4 minutes.

They seemed a bit water logged, which is not ideal. But sometimes real life happens. I should have removed all the corn from the sink and placed it on a towel, but I was removing the corn one ear at a time from the sink to cut off the kernels.

If you do not have a corn kernel remover, use a sharp knife to remove the kernels. It is helpful to put a small bowl with a lip upside down in the bigger bowl. That way you can rest the bottom of the corn cob on the lip of that bowl and it shouldn’t slide around as much.

When you have cut all the corn off the cob, place it into zip top bags. Label with the date and place into the freezer.

If you have specific recipes that call for a certain amount of corn, you might want to measure out how much you freeze in each bag, but I just fill up a quart freezer bag to about 4/5 full. Then I squeeze all the air out and flatten the corn so it will stack nicely in the freezer.

It will last many months in there.

How to use it up

There are so many ways to use the corn that you preserve this way. Corn chowder, cornbread, skillet fried corn, many different soups, and so much more. You can also just boil it up for a few minutes, add some butter, salt, and pepper, and have an easy side for dinner.

What ways do you use your frozen corn?

Is there anything I can do with the leftover cobs?

Yes! So many things. I usually just throw them to the chickens and they love that. If you have hogs, I am sure you could do the same and they would be so happy.

This time I tried out something new. I boiled the cobs with some onions and a bunch of garlic in a huge pot and made stock for when I want to make corn chowder. I am so excited to try it out. No recipe for it, just throw it all in.

I heard you can also make corn cob jelly, but I haven’t done that before.

Other Posts about Food Preservation

How to Freeze Green Beans

Freezing Fresh Blueberries

How to Freeze Bell Peppers

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

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