How one can Freeze Corn

This site is just not acknowledged for its brevity—as soon as we type out a culinary question, we go deep, check out methodically, and make clear our outcomes. This textual content may be a welcome change of tempo, because of there’s solely loads one can say about freezing corn. It’s fairly easy and easy.

So, that is what you would possibly need to know to guard that summer time season sweetness for weeks or months after the ultimate cob has made an look on the farm stand.

Why and When to Freeze Corn

Why freeze corn? To guard it, the truth is. Nevertheless there’s far more urgency than that. The pure sugars in sweet corn quickly convert to additional sophisticated starches, so if you find yourself with additional corn than you presumably can reasonably eat in a day or two, or for many who merely want to guard as plenty of it as potential to take pleasure in totally different situations of yr, freezing is your best option.

Freezing Total Ears Vs. Kernels

Most of the time, you might be larger off decreasing the kernels off the cob sooner than freezing (adjust to our instructions for simple strategies to decrease off the kernels with minimal mess). First, this protects space, since you’re eradicating the cobs sooner than freezing, allowing for far more corn to be saved than for many who froze the ears total. Second, in most conditions, frozen corn is best utilized in dishes that solely require the kernels—while you may eat a defrosted and reheated ear of corn, it is not as nice as consuming one current. The kernels, though, work good in all forms of dishes, from casseroles to salads, soups, stews, baked gadgets, and additional.

One different good thing about freezing merely the kernels: Because of they’re smaller, they freeze sooner. That could be a superb issue, because of the earlier they freeze, the smaller the ice crystals are that sort inside them, foremost to raised preservation of texture (greater ice crystals do additional cell hurt, leading to softer, mushier outcomes).

Should You Blanch First or Not?

It sometimes is smart to blanch greens sooner than packing them away for an prolonged, deep freeze—blanching inactivates enzymes which will lead to a loss in produce prime quality over time. I ran side-by-side checks with current summer time season corn to see if I would inform a distinction between blanched* and raw frozen corn by freezing samples of every, then defrosting and tasting them quite a lot of weeks later.

* I should clarify, I didn’t technically blanch my corn, which could indicate boiling it, nevertheless in its place used my cold-start, no-boil strategy for additional actual temperature administration and better outcomes.

I can be honest: I couldn’t inform them apart. The raw corn tasted merely as sweet and tender as a result of the par-cooked. That’s partly due to the ice crystals that do sort all through freezing—even once they’re smaller because of the speedy freezing of the corn kernels, they nonetheless inflict some cell hurt on the corn, softening it to a additional cooked texture. That’s really a helpful strategy that’s sometimes dubbed “cryo-blanching,” throughout which current produce is given a like-cooked texture with out sacrificing any of its freshness.

So, do it’s a must to par-cook the corn? I have never obtained an conclusive reply, however when my checks confirmed one thing, it’s you can probably take just a bit shortcut proper right here and skip the cooking. Then once more, as a result of the par-cooking didn’t damage the corn in any means, I imagine one would possibly argue it’s nonetheless an insurance coverage protection protection in direction of any loss in prime quality from enzymes or totally different changes that occur in uncooked corn over time.

Briefly, “blanch” the corn (using my no-boil methodology linked to above) when you’ve the time, nevertheless know that you’ll most certainly be merely excellent for many who merely freeze the corn from raw.

Solutions for Making sure the Top quality of Your Frozen Corn

Proper listed here are some issues it’s best to aim to do to be sure you frozen corn stays good over time.

• Freeze it flat: To rush up the corn’s freezing time and lock in its prime quality as quickly as potential, unfold the kernels out on rimmed aluminum baking sheets and freeze on these. Then swap the corn to zipper-lock baggage or vacuum baggage for long-term storage.
• Pack it Flat: Try to pack the corn flat throughout the freezer baggage, squeezing out as loads air as potential, for most likely essentially the most surroundings pleasant storage and quickest defrosting situations potential. Kenji has written about this sooner than, and the advice is solely just about pretty much as good at the moment as a result of it was then.
• Double-Bag for Security: Whereas it makes use of additional plastic, double-bagging the frozen corn helps protect freezer burn away. As quickly as as soon as extra, be certain that to remove as loads air from the luggage as potential.
• Label Clearly: Ensure that to jot down the date on the corn sooner than you set it throughout the freezer so that you understand how earlier it is. It is usually helpful to include totally different information, along with weights and volumes of the corn in each bag; this would possibly show you how to determine how loads corn you would possibly need to defrost for a recipe.
• Defrost Shortly on Aluminum Baking Sheets: Aluminum baking sheets don’t merely help you to freeze the corn, moreover they help defrost it quickly, because of the metallic’s good heat conduction qualities. Should you occur to froze the corn in a thin, flat layer, it ought to defrost in a short time whereas sitting on an aluminum baking sheet at room temperature. Then use the corn rapidly after to ensure its prime quality stays extreme.