Canning, is it worth it?

Canning was something that my family did when I was a child. It was a necessity for us. For about three years we lived in a place that had no utilities whatsoever and no one working for money. There were barter jobs which got us some basics sometimes that we couldn't grow in the sandy, rocky soil, as well as supplies for building and such. Because of this, we had a small refrigerator that was run on bottled gas. This was terrific, but not stable enough nor large enough for any kind of major storage. This is where canning came it great.

All of my life we have had large gardens no matter where we lived. Here it was even bigger with fields of potatoes to get us through the winter without having to buy other starches as often, like rice or flour products. We also had a "green" garden, with everything one would expect from a North East garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage and more were grown there. We canned all sorts of things, experimenting with sauerkraut and other  foods that did not require a pressure canner as my mother had a great fear of them due to the older ones occasionally blowing up. Given the unreliability of our heat source, this was a pretty legitimate concern.

What this taught me was the value of having food put up. Because of the lack of pressure cooking, it also taught me that there are only so many pickles and relish one can eat before not finding it "cute" anymore. Now I have a greater appreciation for variety and try not to keep all of my harvests (from garden or farm stand) in vinegar solution. I do have dill pickles, and sweet pickle relish, but I also have Victorian BBQ sauce and Lemon Green Beans and plan on an old fashioned corn relish from the bushel I got from the farm stand for 20 dollars.

It is probably far too late for anyone to start a garden this year, so I am going to write up about my getting the corn. Corn is going up in price generally, probably due to climate changes and possibly from too many "mono-crops". A mono-crop is planting all of the same variety of a plant. This is what happened in Ireland during the potato famine. No, I am not hugely worried about our foods being wiped out, but I am concerned about rising costs. Less yield means higher prices. With this in mind I researched the price of corn and found that my local farm stand had their own corn in season and 20 dollars a bushel which isn't bad for table corn. CNN on 2012 Corn explains this a bit, though of course it has the mandatory "don't panic" at the bottom. I am certainly not suggesting we panic, that would be silly. The trend is not great though and I feel better with knowing I have a winters worth of corn in my freezer and cupboard.

My family and I husked the bushel while my husband and I took turns blanching it. Blanching is throwing food in boiling water for a few minutes. We found that with this incredibly fresh and sweet corn we would bring a large pot of water to a boil, throw in six ears of corn, put the lid on and let it sit for six minutes. Usually recipes and instructions will say to bring it back to a boil then cook, but I did not find this necessary. I wouldn't recommend putting more corn in as it will cool the water more and change the cooking time.

After each batch of blanching we would bring the lightly salted water back to a boil and start cutting the corn off of the cob. It takes a little practice to reduce waste,but we were not making creamed corn, so no scraping of the cob. After cutting off the kernels, I would break them up as much as I could and spread them out on a cookie sheet to cool. Once pretty cooled I packed them in 3 cups increments in quart freezer bags, lying them flat and removing as much air as possible. I have tried the sealer bags for freezing but have had no luck and I do not have the money to try to do it again right now. Freezer bags work, but you do have to watch for freezer burn after a point.

Once bagged, they were labelled with the quantity and what it is for storage. I also set aside on large bag with 8 cups and another with 12 for a couple of canning recipes that I want to try. It is very satisfying to see all that corn lined up in my freezer. We all nibbled as we cut and it is amazingly sweet and tasty. Blanching helps to keep it that way in the freezer. You can do this without freezing, but it will lose some of its flavor.

Important to keep in mind:

Blanching is very good, but not necessary. Better to lose a little quality than the whole inventory. A little planning will make this trade off unnecessary, barring emergencies (like me having a mini-stroke in the middle of making blueberry jam)

Corn quickly loses sweetness once cut. This is why I went to my farm stand where they grow it. We couldn't process it that day, but because it was so fresh letting it sit one day wasn't too bad. The same day would have been better still though.

Should your corn not be as sweet as desired, you can add sugar to the water with the salt. It isn't perfect, but it does add a little freshness to the corn. Processing it right away is much better.

Make sure you have enough bags/containers before starting. It is discouraging to think you have enough and find as you are beginning that you don't. I used quart sized freezer bags and a couple of gallon ones for the canning recipes. (Well, that and I didn't check first so ran out of quart bags)

Pick all of the silk from the ears. Be very careful here. It is a bit tedious, but very much worth it. I used a soft touch with a vegetable brush to dislodge any silks that were caught in there, as well as some wayward husks.

Make sure that you have a stable place on which to cut the corn. There are many things you can do. I am pretty good at this, so I was cool without using anything, but I have heard folks use a bundt pan (place the ear in the middle and the kernels fall into the bowl) or squishing a paper bowl in a larger bowl for stability. Corn cutters are not necessary unless you are afraid of injury. Corn comes in all sizes though, so you will not get very uniform results with this.

This can be a family affair! Pull up some seats, turn on the telly and pass around paper bags. Fun for everyone! Seriously, it was fun it an odd way. Plus I could tell "when I was a kid" stories.

I will come back with some recipes as I do them. The blueberry jam needs work though as I found it far too sweet. I will have to research that more. Look around your yard, I found a large rhubarb plant growing wild, so that is why I have Victorian BBQ sauce. That recipe will be included later. Also, pictures soon too.
Pack in quantities you use. Three cups are good for our household. My oldest child is not around much so it is mostly three of us, so this amount is more than enough for a side or recipe.