Fresh corn is a treat. Many places in Montana are harvesting corn now. Our short growing season makes for a small window to enjoy fresh sweet corn. You can always buy corn at Costco, but home grown is always the best!

Corn is easy to store for year-round enjoyment. You can Freeze, pickle, can, and dry fresh corn.

Here are some tips and thoughts on how you can preserve corn.

FREEZE      Use only fresh picked corn. It is best processed after 3-4 hours. Make sure that there are no worms, damage, or decay. The corn needs to be blanched. This means a 7–9-minute boil then cooling for the same amount of time. You can wrap each cob separately with plastic wrap or vacuum seal them. You can also cut the corn from the cob and freeze as whole kernels or cream the corn. Place the kernels into a plastic bag and press out any air. Label and date the products.

CANNING     Corn works well and there a several ways to do this. You can search recipes for a Hot Pack or Raw Pack.

I also process any left-over corn from current meals. We always seem to cook way more corn than guests eat. Just use these bags sooner than later. Corn quickly loses its natural sweetness.

Pickling

Corn Relish

• 10 cups fresh whole kernel corn
• (16 to 20 medium-size ears), or six 10-ounce packages of frozen corn 2 1/2 cups diced sweet red peppers
• 2 1/2 cups diced sweet green peppers
• 2 1/2 cups chopped celery
• 1 1/4 cups diced onions
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 5 cups vinegar (5%)
• 2 1/2 tbsp canning or pickling salt
• 2 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 2 1/2 tbsp dry mustard
• 1 1/4 tsp turmeric

Yield: About 9 pints

Procedure: Boil ears of corn 5 minutes. Dip in cold water. Cut whole kernels from cob or use six 10-ounce frozen packages of corn. Combine peppers, celery, onions, sugar, vinegar, salt, and celery seed in a saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix mustard and turmeric in 1/2 cup of the simmered mixture. Add this mixture and corn to the hot mixture. Simmer another 5 minutes. If desired, thicken mixture with flour paste (1/4 cup flour blended in 1/4 cup water) and stir frequently. Fill jars with hot mixture, leaving 1/2inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.

You can also Distill corn, but that is topic for another time.

Montana Grant