Corn

I live on Long Island, NY and it is pretty amazing. I can be in the city in an hour or at a farm or winery in less then an hour. The best of both worlds. Youngest daughter and I went out to a few farms that we like to see what was going on. This is my favorite time of year to go out East. At one of the farms, corn was $21 for a bushel. So we bought one. They guarantee at least 50 ears of corn. Mine had 53. That comes to a little less then 40¢ an ear. They sell individual ears for 75¢ each.

We get a bushel almost every year. We look forward to it. It is so sweet and delicious. I personally think it is the best corn. The problem with corn is the longer you let it sit the starchier it gets. So I got to work on processing the corn. 

I get my biggest pot out and fill it half way with water. Then I start husking corn. All of the husks go into my compost bin. I can get 15 ears of corn in the pot at a time. They are big ears. I boil them for 20 minutes. 

I then pull them out and let them cool down on a cookie sheet. Then the next 15 go into the pot. If more water is needed, I add it. 

Next I get my biggest bowl out. I put a glass ramekin in the middle to lean the corn cob on while I cut off the corn. When the corn is cooled off enough for me to hold, I start cutting off the kernels. 

If I see any bad spots I cut them off first. Into the compost pile. 

I put the flat side on the ramekin and cut the bottom section off. I kind of make a handle to hold the corn while I do the rest.

I flip it over and then cut off the rest. I don't want to cut to deep or I get more then the kernels. After a few, you get the hang of it. 

You are left with big pieces of corn together. I take out the ramekin and gently start crumbling the corn to make it come apart. 

 I then bag up my corn. I do 2 cups per baggie. I made 20 bags out of the 30 ears. 

Now I am going to start on my corn cob jelly.  I take the cobs and throw them back into the water that I boiled them in.

I do not add water at this point. If they are not all covered, then I do half at a time. I boil them for an hour. When it is done I pull out the cobs. They go into my compost bin too. Then I strain the liquid. Some people leave the bits in. It is up to you. I don't. 

I add the bits to the dogs food. I really try not to waste any food. 

Now I have a bowl of condensed cob stock. I usually go down to a smaller pot at this point.  Then I make jelly like I normally do. I made a batch on the stove of plain corn cob jelly. I got 5 small jars. I did not can them.

In my bread machine, I made a batch of spiced corn cob jelly. I got 5 small jars of that too. I love my bread machine. It does so much more then bread. 

So I got a total of 10 small jars. I had more stock so I put it into the freezer. I will use it when I make corn and potato soup. 

So I got 10 jars of jelly, 1 quart of stock, 20 baggies of corn in my freezer and 23 ears of corn to eat. I will end up freezing some corn on the cob. Just not today.  I think I did pretty good for $21.

Have you ever made corn cob jelly?