Canning Corn

I haven't grown corn in 10 years. The first and only other time I grew corn was the first year we were married, and I just didn't have much luck with it. It was chewy, it didn't produce well, I don't know, I just didn't have much interest in growing it. I'd rather grow something that's a bit more nutritious than corn anyway. I love corn, but it's..well..just a starch. But, someone gave me two big bags of corn seeds, and I also had some popcorn seeds that I was given several years ago. Savannah LOVES corn and was SO excited about the prospect of growing some, so we planted 6 short rows. It did pretty well. We planted our green beans with the corn, so they grew up the corn stalks. It was nice not having to stake my beans! That in an of itself was worth it! I may do it again just for that very reason. I'll search for some heirloom varieties that are non GMO and not have to worry about staking beans anymore! :) We had 5 or so meals off the corn, then I picked enough in one batch to can.

Alan and Katie shucked these 36 ears of corn while Savannah and I got a load of green beans going in the pressure canner.

This is a jar of green beans before it went into the canner. I love the vibrant green of the beans and the purple streaks on the Rattlesnake beans.  Unfortunately, that purple streak disappears once they're heated.  I want to do a full post on canning green beans soon.

I've been looking for a real good slicer for the large quantities of food prep I do every year.  I took the plunge and bought this Weston Pro Vegetable Slicer, also known as a mandoline slicer.  I like the sturdiness of it, but I'm not sure if I'm happy of the performance of it.  I've cut cucumbers, onions, corn, cheese, and some other foods which are slipping my mind right now, and have had mixed results.  I will say this though...the very first day I was using it, the food pusher fell apart in my hand.  I called the company to ask about replacement of the food pusher (which I could have super glued back together, but come on! It was the first time I'd used the thing and it was not cheap!), and they sent me a whole new slicer, not just the food pusher. So, now, I have two mandoline slicers. ;)  I was impressed with the company's willingness to work with me and was beyond impressed that they sent me another $55 vegetable slicer just because the cheapest part of the gizmo broke!  As for how it slices corn?  It does pretty well.  It's hard to hold where you won't slice your finger, but I managed to get by unmaimed.

After I cut the corn off the cob, Savannah took a butter knife and scraped the milk off the cob to minimize waste and to give the corn a creamed corn taste.

This was the first gizmo I used to cut the corn off the cob.  Someone recommended this style of cutter, so I bought one.  This particular one broke on the 6th ear of corn.  Thus, the reason for switching over to the Weston slicer.  (I traded this cutter out, which I was just going to exchange for the same style, but they were out, for a Lee's Corn Cutter....not sure I like it either.  I must be hard to please!)

Ain't it purty?

The ears of corn that haven't been scraped are lying down in the bowl; the ones that have been scraped are up against the sides of the bowl.

I packed them in quart jars and ladled boiling water over the corn leaving 1" head space.

I used Tattler Reusable Canning Lids on the corn.  More on that later.  I canned them at 12 lb pressure for 95 minutes once it reached the desired pressure.  I didn't take a picture of them after they came out of the canner.  They're not as pretty anyway. :) The sugar in the corn causes it to turn brown and the corn shrinks up too, leaving a bit more head space than I like.