A large area was planted with sweetcorn. The cobs are now ripe and ready for harvest. If you don't freeze them quickly, you risk converting the sugars into starch, which will affect the taste and sweetness.

Sweetcorn is best frozen pre-cooked

Harvest at the right time

Sweetcorn should be harvested in time for consumption. Depending on the variety, the cobs ripen between the end of July and the beginning of September. Do the milk ripeness test. Simply press into a seed with your fingernail. When milky-white juice comes out, the cob is perfectly ripe.

Peel and clean the corn cobs

After the sweetcorn is harvested, it should be processed within 8 hours. Peel off the outer bracts. In addition, the brown threads (former styles of the female flowers) should be removed.

The end of the cob is cut off with a knife. If the tip of the butt is poorly formed or has already dried out, it should also be cut off. Now the cobs are washed if they are still dirty.

Now it's time to pre-cook

  • Put on the pot with water and bring to the boil
  • Put the flask in the boiling water
  • either remove immediately (blanch) or simmer for 5 minutes
  • Remove the cobs from the pot and rinse with cold water
  • Drain cobs (e.g. in a colander)

Off to the freezer!

Then take one or, depending on the number of cobs, several freezer bags. Place the flasks in there and seal the bags airtight. Alternatively, you can also scrape off the grains with a sharp knife and just freeze them. It is advisable to label the freezer bags with the date.

Recipes with sweet corn

Irrespective of the variety, the sweet corn can be frozen for around 8 months without losing any of its quality. If you want to defrost and eat it, boil it for 10 minutes. Here are a few recipe ideas:

  • Sweetcorn Gratin
  • Sweetcorn Patties
  • candy corn salad
  • accompaniment to meat
  • sweetcorn stew
  • Sweet Corn Soup
  • grilled sweetcorn

tips

Bought, fresh sweetcorn can also be frozen without any problems. However, before you decide to buy, find out how long ago it was harvested. With bad luck, the aroma has already decreased significantly and the corn on the cob does not taste sweet, but mealy.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden