Outdoor Sweet Corn Processing

Outdoor Sweet Corn Processing FARM HOME Food At 95 FARM SHOW reader Herman Larson has grown and helped process many bushels of sweet corn over the years But he says his favorite method is a common sense outdoors system his son-in-law Don Sandell came up with “It all started because my wife didn’t like the mess in the kitchen ” Sandell says He and his wife Joan set up a corn processing area outside and invited relatives from 3 or 4 other families to help Sandell uses two cookers — filling big blue porcelain pots with water and heating them on fast-heating propane stoves like those used for turkey fryers He blanches the husked corn for about 3 min and then removes the ears with tongs He usually blanches 3 batches of corn in the same water before changing it Sandell drops the hot corn on the cob into one of the two 5-gal plastic buckets which he modified with sprayer tank fittings in the bottom With the fitting straddled between 4-in high blocking and connected to a garden hose he fills the bucket with water “Pushing the cold water up from the bottom cools the ears right down It pushes the heat up and out ” Sandell says He reduces the stream of water as the corn cools then shuts the water off and pours the cooled corn in containers Joan covers an 8-ft table with plastic and she and other helpers armed with their favorite corn cutters cut the corn off the cob onto baking sheets and then seal the corn in pint and quart bags for the freezer When done they roll up the plastic throw it away and rinse out the kettles and containers outdoors “The mess is all outside and we can go into a clean kitchen ” Joan says With everyone working together processing corn is a good family activity and the corn is divided up to be enjoyed all winter long Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Don Sandell 2222 310th St Fort Dodge Iowa 50501 ph 515 547-2379

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