This website online will not be 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 is also a welcome change of tempo, because of there’s solely lots one can say about freezing corn. It’s fairly easy and easy.
So, that is what it’s advisable to know to guard that summer 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, in any case. Nevertheless there’s far more urgency than that. The pure sugars in sweet corn quickly convert to further superior starches, so if you find yourself with further corn than you can pretty eat in a day or two, or in the event you occur to easily want to guard as quite a lot of it as attainable to get pleasure from completely different events of yr, freezing is the only option.
Important Eats / Daniel Gritzer
Freezing Total Ears Vs. Kernels
Most of the time, you’re increased off decreasing the kernels off the cob sooner than freezing (adjust to our instructions for the easiest way to reduce off the kernels with minimal mess). First, this protects home, since you’re eradicating the cobs sooner than freezing, allowing for relatively extra corn to be saved than in the event you occur to froze the ears total. Second, in most conditions, frozen corn is best utilized in dishes that solely require the kernels—while you’ll be able to eat a defrosted and reheated ear of corn, it is not as gratifying as consuming one current. The kernels, though, work good in all forms of dishes, from casseroles to salads, soups, stews, baked objects, and further.
One different good thing about freezing merely the kernels: On account of they’re smaller, they freeze sooner. That is a superb issue, because of the earlier they freeze, the smaller the ice crystals are that sort inside them, major to raised preservation of texture (larger ice crystals do further cell hurt, leading to softer, mushier outcomes).
Must You Blanch First or Not?
It normally is wise to blanch greens sooner than packing them away for a protracted, deep freeze—blanching inactivates enzymes that will end in a loss in produce prime quality over time. I ran side-by-side assessments with current summer season corn to see if I could inform a distinction between blanched* and raw frozen corn by freezing samples of every, then defrosting and tasting them just some weeks later.
* I must clarify, I didn’t technically blanch my corn, which could indicate boiling it, nevertheless in its place used my cold-start, no-boil method for further actual temperature administration and better outcomes.
I will probably be reliable: 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 variety all through freezing—even once they’re smaller due to the speedy freezing of the corn kernels, they nonetheless inflict some cell hurt on the corn, softening it to a further cooked texture. That’s actually a helpful method that’s usually dubbed “cryo-blanching,” by which current produce is given a like-cooked texture with out sacrificing any of its freshness.
Important Eats / Daniel Gritzer
So, do it’s a must to par-cook the corn? I have not acquired an conclusive reply, however when my assessments confirmed one thing, it’s that you could be possibly take considerably shortcut proper right here and skip the cooking. Nevertheless, as a result of the par-cooking didn’t damage the corn in any methodology, I imagine one might argue it’s nonetheless an insurance coverage protection protection in opposition to any loss in prime quality from enzymes or completely different modifications that occur in uncooked corn over time.
In short, “blanch” the corn (using my no-boil methodology linked to above) you in all probability have the time, nevertheless know that you will possibly be merely fantastic in the event you occur to easily freeze the corn from raw.
Recommendations for Making sure the Top quality of Your Frozen Corn
Proper listed below are some issues you could try and 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 attainable, 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 and pack the corn flat inside the freezer baggage, squeezing out as lots air as attainable, for basically essentially the most atmosphere pleasant storage and quickest defrosting events attainable. Kenji has written about this sooner than, and the advice is just practically nearly as good in the mean time as a result of it was then.
- Double-Bag for Security: Whereas it makes use of additional plastic, double-bagging the frozen corn helps maintain freezer burn away. As quickly as as soon as extra, be certain that to remove as lots air from the luggage as attainable.
- Label Clearly: Make it possible for to jot down down the date on the corn sooner than you place it inside the freezer so that you know how outdated it is. Additionally it is helpful to include completely different information, along with weights and volumes of the corn in each bag; this would possibly assist you set up how lots corn it’s advisable to defrost for a recipe.
- Defrost Shortly on Aluminum Baking Sheets: Aluminum baking sheets don’t merely help you freeze the corn, as well as they help defrost it quickly, due to the metallic’s good heat conduction qualities. Within the occasion you froze the corn in a thin, flat layer, it could defrost in a short time whereas sitting on an aluminum baking sheet at room temperature. Then use the corn shortly after to verify its prime quality stays extreme.