Corn freezing days came early this year. Usually, we freeze corn around the second week in July, but this year the corn came in on July 2, and 5th and 8th. That made for some interesting schedule changes, but when it comes to corn, arrangements have to be made.
We are corn fanatics. Carol says we are corn snobs. Both are true.
Daddy plants corn in Lattimore in late April. It is silver queen and only silver queen. They irrigate, weed and spray for critters and in about 90 days it is ready for the 'first pick'. Daddy has a special relationship with his corn. He enjoys every aspect of corn from preparing the crosstie beds, to planting, to each phase of growth, to checking every day for the perfect time to pick. We tease him about talking to the corn. After all, they do have ears.
And then there is the freezing phase. The main goal is to get the corn from field to freezor in under three hours to preserve the sweetness of the corn. The longer it takes the more starchy the corn will taste. Corn at it's peak is better than candy, so we go to great lengths to make the freezing a fast and efficient process.
Corn freezing day starts a few days early with Daddy calling to say it might be Thursday, or Friday but it probably won't wait for Saturday. So for several days we are juggling to make sure that whatever day it is we can be there to help. The night before the day he calls to say that they will start picking early the next morning. We gather the right pots, vegetable brushes, towels, and lots of pint sized freezor bags. And then there is the knife. It is very peculiar about knives, but all of the corn cutters have a specific knife that works. I bring my own and so does Libby. She even has her initials on hers so it doesn't get mixed up with the others. Mama Crowder kept a piece of freezor tape around the handle of her special knife.
So the freezing process begins in Lattimore with Abel and others picking the corn in big green bags. They pick one row at a time so the corn doesn't sit a long time in the sun. Then all the corn shuckers and silkers gather near the playhouse, under a huge oak tree. They sit in a wide variety of chairs, in a circle, with corn piled in the middle. This year, Cindy, David, Jackson, Mary Beth, Will, Able, Gustavo, Paula, John, Austin, Elsa and maybe a few others came to shuck and silk. The conversation is always very interesting with a mixture of English, Spanish and Spanglish. I miss this part these days because I am a cutter so I spend most of my time in the kitchen.
In the kitchen, we are griping our special knives, arranging bowls, boiling water and filling sinks full of ice and cold water. When the shucked and silked corn is brought in, we wash in the utility sink and then bring into the kitchen. Daddy and Mama have two big pots that they use for the blanching. They like to put 27 ears into each pot and they blanche for about 10 minutes. When the kitchen timer buzzes, we remove the corn to a pot of water to take the first heat out of it, then it is placed in the sink to begin cooling. There is alot of sloshing of water, especially when Daddy is helping, and we use alot of towels during this phase!
We cool the corn in one side of the sink and then add ice to the other side to cool it down as fast as possible. To know if an ear is cooled all the way to the cob, Daddy will pick out an ear and hold it to see if it stays cool. When he declares it cool enough, we remove all the ears and place on a towel to drain off excess water. Then the cutting process starts. Mama and Daddy want corn OFF the cob.
Cutting the corn off the cob brings back memories of days gone by when Mama Crowder, Nishie and Sis were the cutters. They would stand around the chopping block with corn piled high in the middle and slowly cut each kernel perfectly, making sure to get NO COBs into the sweet tender corn. The entire time they cut, they would be talking and laughing and telling stories. Sometimes when there is alot of corn to cut, it can get pretty tedious and they could make this a party. I loved being in there hearing them talk and laugh, so about the time I was 14 years old, I picked up a knife and gave cutting a try. I am now 54 years old and I almost know how to do it to Hunt quality specification. It takes alot of practice but I keep working on it.
When the corn is cut, Mama or Libby or Penny place it carefully in pint sized zip lock freezor bags (about 7-8 big spoonfuls in a bag). It is important not to get the bag sticky with corn which is nearly impossible and to seal the bags carefully. The bags are labelled with the date and if Mama thinks it necessary she may make a notation on the outside. A or B might mean something about the crop that time, or she may make a note known only to herself that would let her know something like who did the cutting that day.
The corn is then put on trays to be taken to the basement freezor which has previously been rearranged so that new corn and old corn aren't mixed up.
There is alot of counting that goes on with the corn process. We keep a running tab of the number of bags that have gone to the freezor and the number of cobs that have been cut. It is always the duty of one of the younger boys to pick up the cob buckets from the kitchen, take them to the pasture and throw each one counting one at a time, over the fence to the cows.
We have alot of guessing about number of cobs and number of bags and what the yield will be that year. Daddy loves to count most everything and Mama just likes to know that she has at least 100 new bags in the freezor each year. This is because all throughout the year when the Hunt crowd gathers or if Daddy and Mama have a Raleigh Ruby's cooking or if she wants to take corn to someone's family during a crisis, she will have plenty of fresh tasting silver queen at her fingertips. And it is always appreciated because it really is the best corn ever.
So, this year, we did corn on July 2nd - 70 pints and July 5th - 70 pints. The 3rd picking on July 8 was brought to my house because the Lattimore freezor is full of corn. Thankfully Daddy sends Abel to help shuck and silk, and Jay and Carol came to help. We ended up with 20 pints of cut and 21 ears of 'on the cob'.
There is nothing more satisfying to a corn fanatic than to know that there is fresh frozen corn in the freezor.
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