How To Freeze Sweet Corn So It Still Tastes Like Summer in January

The corn in the store freezer lost most of its sweetness the day it was picked — because sweet corn turns its sugar to starch fast after it comes off the stalk. Amos, an Amish food-keeper from Lancaster County, shows how to put up your own so it still tastes like a July morning in the dead of January, and the one step nearly everyone skips that keeps frozen corn from going tough and bland. That step is blanching — a quick scald in boiling water that stops the enzymes which would otherwise ruin the corn in the freezer. The times: to freeze cut kernels, blanch the whole ears 4 minutes; for corn on the cob, blanch about 7 minutes (small), 9 (medium), or 11 (large). The moment it's done, plunge it into ice water and cool it for the SAME time you blanched it. Cut the kernels off about two-thirds deep (don't scrape the cob), pack into freezer bags with the air pressed out (air causes freezer burn), label the date, and freeze at 0°F — it'll keep a full year. And note: corn is a low-acid food, so it can't be safely water-bath canned (that needs a pressure canner) — freezing is the simple, safe home method. Frozen corn is a touch softer than fresh and shines in chowders, succotash, and sides all winter. Comment below: have you frozen your own corn before, and did anyone ever tell you about the blanching step?