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August gives us a hearty, tasty, sweet, fragrant joy – boiled corn. Of course, everyone knows about the benefits of cornmeal, starch and oil, not only kids eat flakes and sticks, but adults and children still get the greatest pleasure from fresh corn cooked with whole cobs. I want to give myself this pleasure not only during the harvest, but in a month or two. And the question arises of how to store corn. It can be canned or frozen. But it’s a completely different taste! How to store corn so that you can cook it at home in winter, as in August, is the topic of this article.
Cob storage features
Corn can be canned, dried, frozen, but at home, this is most often done with grains, and not whole cobs. No matter how many ways are invented, it is a struggle for the opportunity to preserve the indescribable taste, loved since childhood.
Agricultural enterprises grow this vegetable in huge volumes, harvest with the help of combines, then store the cobs for a very long time – all winter, often even until spring. They know best how to store corn, they do it in small (by industrial standards) warehouses, the walls of which are made of gratings. Such warehouses are called koshes. Still use ventilated bunkers. Such premises are necessarily equipped with special ventilation, and the humidity is maintained at 23 percent.
Usually late varieties are placed for long-term storage, the skin on their grains is tough. Even if they are sent for processing to obtain oil, molasses, starch and flour in the winter or next spring, they retain all their qualities. Such corn can be boiled, it will be harsh and not very sweet, but almost the same as in August-September, when it is harvested.
Home conditions do not allow you to apply this method completely, but you can use the basic principles that reveal the secret of how to store corn without losing its quality.
Storing cobs in the freezer
At home, most often corn is frozen in grains or whole cobs to enjoy it all winter, if the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe freezer allows. This is very convenient for those who do not want to preserve it in jars. Grained heads of cabbage are cleaned of leaves and fibers, sorted out, cut off damaged or rotten grains, cut off the tips with unripe grains.
To properly freeze whole fruits at home, you need to prepare two large pots. One is filled with boiling water, the other is filled with cold water with pieces of ice. Prepared vegetables are dipped for 2 minutes in hot water, then for the same amount of time in cold water. After that, they are dried on a towel.
When the cobs are dry on all sides, each of them is wrapped with cling film and laid on the floor of the freezer. So you can save corn cobs at home for up to a year and a half without loss of quality.
Other storage methods
Storing corn on the cob at home for the winter has only one job – to preserve its delicate sweetness. There are several ways, but more space is required than for storing grains.
It is best to freeze or canned. If you do it right, and even take young cobs, then you can feast on all winter. Freezing and preservation will help keep the product at home for more than a year. Moreover, it will be possible to eat not only grains, but even the cobs themselves. Such preparations are often used for the preparation of side dishes or various vegetable platters.
Dried cobs can also be stored all winter if kept at home in a ventilated attic or other dry place with fresh air. For this purpose, late varieties are suitable, which are harvested after they are fully ripe.
Corn for drying must be sorted out, leaving only clean, undamaged. All leaves are not removed during such storage, you just need to open the grains, you can remove the leaves on one side, but no more. Fibers (stigmas) are removed, but as much as possible, if you do not tear off all the leaves. Thus, the prepared cobs are hung one by one under the ceiling of the attic, in pairs or weaving several pieces with braids – as space allows. In autumn and winter, they take as much as they need and cook it – it will turn out tasty and healthy, but not, of course, like from the August garden.
The refrigerator will allow you to keep tender corn at home for several days exactly the same as it was harvested in the garden. For three days it will be just as tender and retain its taste. You can enjoy its freshness for another week, but the process of breaking down sugars will make it not so sweet anymore. Corn for popcorn should not be stored like this – even if everything is done correctly, protect the grains from excess moisture, and their skin will not soften from softening. Freshly harvested ears must be cleaned of leaves and fibers, then unwashed, packed in plastic (plastic) bags and placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Perhaps this is the only way to stretch the pleasure that we get from freshly boiled corn with salt.
Video “Super way to store corn”
This video will be useful for those who want to learn how to store corn on the cob in winter and enjoy their favorite dish all year round.
