Posted: 4/12/2012 2:55:12 PM EDT
| I'm growing corn for the first time (Stowell's Evergreen) and I expect that if I don't screw up I'll have far more corn than I can eat before it spoils. I'm not very interested in canning so I'd like to dry what I can't eat or freeze. I've read a couple different methods on the interwebs. What methods are your favorite for long term storage? |
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If I dry it on the cob, how easy is it to remove the kernels?
rusteerooster, People say you can reconstitute it by boiling 1 cup dried corn in 2 cups water. Frozen food doesn't store well when the power goes out and I expect to have more than I can freeze anyway. I hope to make this part of my survival preps and sustainable living as I learn more and get better. |
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If I dry it on the cob, how easy is it to remove the kernels? rusteerooster, People say you can reconstitute it by boiling 1 cup dried corn in 2 cups water. Frozen food doesn't store well when the power goes out and I expect to have more than I can freeze anyway. I hope to make this part of my survival preps and sustainable living as I learn more and get better. You may want to think about a solar set up for the freezer, not real expensive and will be worth a good nights sleep if the grid goes down. Never tried the "reconstituted corn, may want to get some and try it first. |
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dried corn will yield only flour, corn meal and grits. I would freeze it, very easy to do. I just rehydrated some corn and used it in a soup last week. It turned out well and I'm planning to dehydrate more for future use next time I see a good sale on corn. OP, I just read up on this a few days ago. From what I read, you blanch the cobs for 4-6 minutes, immediately dump it into cold water until you can stand to handle it, and then immediately cut the corn off. From there put it in pans or on sheets in the oven a low temp for x amount of time. Google 'dehydrate corn' and you'll find the exact temp and time. |
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I live in the Phoenix area so I'd prefer to do it outside whether I do it on the cob or off. If I do it off the cob I'll need to buy a fair number of baking sheets or screens. I'd prefer to do it on the cob if it is reasonably easy to remove the kernels after they dry. Anybody have experience with that method?
ETA: I'd also like to be able to save corn as seed. Ideally I'd like to dry it and be able to either plant it or eat it as I decided but I don't have enough experience with this to know whether that's even feasible. |
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I live in the Phoenix area so I'd prefer to do it outside whether I do it on the cob or off. If I do it off the cob I'll need to buy a fair number of baking sheets or screens. I'd prefer to do it on the cob if it is reasonably easy to remove the kernels after they dry. Anybody have experience with that method? ETA: I'd also like to be able to save corn as seed. Ideally I'd like to dry it and be able to either plant it or eat it as I decided but I don't have enough experience with this to know whether that's even feasible. dried on the cob kernels are easily removed. We use to dry it in the field and then shuck and shell it for feed. I have never dried sweet corn and understand it doesn't dry well so you may want to stick with a "field" corn. |
| Thanks for the reply. It looks like I'm just gonna have to experiment. Because of the way the sun hits in the spot I planted and soil temps I have a wide array of maturity in plants so far so I should have some room to play. Also, from reading it looks like you want to leave cobs on the stalk much longer if you want seed. I guess I'll just play with it and see what I get. Good news is that Phoenix should have at least two, if not three, harvests a year. |
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Still thawing out last years corn. We just stuck a bunch in garbage bags still in the husk, and popped em in the deep freeze. If for some reason the corn I have left goes bad (12 ears or so) I still had good corn for 6 months after harvest. Just ate some a week ago, so they are still good at the moment.
Oh, I am just boiling the corn on the cob. I wouldn't suggest grilling them. I have not tried it, but I doubt it would work right. |
I dry it the shawnee way; least it's the way I was taught as small child and done nearly every year since (I only do a few bushels nowdays so the kids learn/remember how it's done and I use a bbq grill ).
corn when done this way looks very similar to cope's brand dried corn and cooks up just the same just add to water, boil for a bit and it's ready to eat. to dehydrate it over coals (build a hardwood fire, then dig a shallow trench approx shovel width (as long as you can keep filled with coals), fill trench with coals, lay a center support over the middle of the trench (we use old bed rails) and start putting the corn on like ^), then watch it pretty close turning the cobs fairly regularly so they don't scorch/burn black; when they're shriveled/dry take them off the rack, let them cool a bit then shuck the kernels off the cob and lay out on a tarp/sheet then store. it'll keep till the following year; maybe longer I don't know; about the time we'd run out it'd be harvest time and time to dry corn again. it's fairly labor intensive if you're doing a lot of corn (most years when I was a kid we'd do at least 40 acres worth some years a lot more), so it helps to have a bunch of kids to collect/haul wood to keep the fire going, turn cobs on the rack, shuck the dried kernels off the cob and watch the shucked kernels while they're laying out to keep the birds from eating it. |
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I live in the Phoenix area so I'd prefer to do it outside whether I do it on the cob or off. If I do it off the cob I'll need to buy a fair number of baking sheets or screens. I'd prefer to do it on the cob if it is reasonably easy to remove the kernels after they dry. Anybody have experience with that method? ETA: I'd also like to be able to save corn as seed. Ideally I'd like to dry it and be able to either plant it or eat it as I decided but I don't have enough experience with this to know whether that's even feasible. dried on the cob kernels are easily removed. We use to dry it in the field and then shuck and shell it for feed. I have never dried sweet corn and understand it doesn't dry well so you may want to stick with a "field" corn. I dried some sweet corn last year. FAILURE. I cooked and cooked. It would not re-hydrate. finally when it was starting to get soft I t tasted like crap. This year I am canning... |
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I dried some sweet corn last year. FAILURE. I cooked and cooked. It would not re-hydrate. finally when it was starting to get soft I t tasted like crap. This year I am canning... How did you dry it? And how did you try to rehydrate it, just boiling in water? |
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I dry it the shawnee way; least it's the way I was taught as small child and done nearly every year since (I only do a few bushels nowdays so the kids learn/remember how it's done and I use a bbq grill ).
corn when done this way looks very similar to cope's brand dried corn and cooks up just the same just add to water, boil for a bit and it's ready to eat. to dehydrate it over coals (build a hardwood fire, then dig a shallow trench approx shovel width (as long as you can keep filled with coals), fill trench with coals, lay a center support over the middle of the trench (we use old bed rails) and start putting the corn on like ^), then watch it pretty close turning the cobs fairly regularly so they don't scorch/burn black; when they're shriveled/dry take them off the rack, let them cool a bit then shuck the kernels off the cob and lay out on a tarp/sheet then store. it'll keep till the following year; maybe longer I don't know; about the time we'd run out it'd be harvest time and time to dry corn again. it's fairly labor intensive if you're doing a lot of corn (most years when I was a kid we'd do at least 40 acres worth some years a lot more), so it helps to have a bunch of kids to collect/haul wood to keep the fire going, turn cobs on the rack, shuck the dried kernels off the cob and watch the shucked kernels while they're laying out to keep the birds from eating it. Ima need to see some pics, or better diagrams. I'm not understanding how you did 40 acres of corn this way. TRG |
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Quoted:
I dry it the shawnee way; least it's the way I was taught as small child and done nearly every year since (I only do a few bushels nowdays so the kids learn/remember how it's done and I use a bbq grill ).
corn when done this way looks very similar to cope's brand dried corn and cooks up just the same just add to water, boil for a bit and it's ready to eat. to dehydrate it over coals (build a hardwood fire, then dig a shallow trench approx shovel width (as long as you can keep filled with coals), fill trench with coals, lay a center support over the middle of the trench (we use old bed rails) and start putting the corn on like ^), then watch it pretty close turning the cobs fairly regularly so they don't scorch/burn black; when they're shriveled/dry take them off the rack, let them cool a bit then shuck the kernels off the cob and lay out on a tarp/sheet then store. it'll keep till the following year; maybe longer I don't know; about the time we'd run out it'd be harvest time and time to dry corn again. it's fairly labor intensive if you're doing a lot of corn (most years when I was a kid we'd do at least 40 acres worth some years a lot more), so it helps to have a bunch of kids to collect/haul wood to keep the fire going, turn cobs on the rack, shuck the dried kernels off the cob and watch the shucked kernels while they're laying out to keep the birds from eating it. Ima need to see some pics, or better diagrams. I'm not understanding how you did 40 acres of corn this way. TRG I do need to do a small scale pictorial on this. it takes a lot of time/effort to do (there were 11 of us kids and at least 4 aunts and my grandfather every day); it's not something done in a couple of days; it takes weeks. ETA: I was wrong  ; my uncle and told me it was 25 acres, just seemed like 40 worth and we didn't dry all of it; some went into the cribs for feed.
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