ReLocavore: Redefining "local"

Back to Wisconsin, my cheesehead friends

Tag Archives: corn


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Gross Corn, or 12 x 12 = 144

The going price at the market for corn in Vermont and New Hampshire is anywhere from 6 ears for $4 up to $1 per year – or $8-12 per dozen. As a kid, the teenagers in pickup trucks along the side of the road charged, at most, $2/dozen, and we could often talk them down to $1.50. In Madison, I could buy a bakers dozen ears (13×13) from a local sweet corn farm, and they’d even haul the bags to my car for $3.50/dozen, and often not charge me for the full Baker’s gross. The most offensive price in the Midwest for an ear of sweet corn is at the Sun Prairie Corn Festival where FIBs* and Cheeseheads get overcharged for sweet corn- $2/ear including salt and butter. Last year, I got lucky and coaxed a kid to $5/dozen and complained to everybody around about the price of sweet corn.  So, paying $8 for a dozen ears of corn offends my Midwestern sensibilities. I was not going to pay $8 per dozen to freeze corn this year. 

We headed to upstate New York over Labor Day, where fertile soil and normal market pricing mechanisms conspire to produce cheap, high-quality sweet corn. I was determined to buy as much corn as I could haul back and put it into the freezer for the year. I accomplished my goal. $4 per dozen. A gross of corn (a dozen dozen), and we produced 43 zipper bags holding about 2 cups of corn each. Mission accomplished. 

Click on an image to read a full description. 

Thanks to Bauman’s Farm Market for the most wonderful (and well-priced) sweet corn.
Corn came in “bags” which was 4 dozen ears in a large brown paper bag. Pidi enjoyed traveling in the back seat on top of pillows with a comfy headrest of corn. Good dog!
I couldn’t wait to get home to eat an ear. I had this one as a snack while driving home.
We’re shucking the corn. Pidi tried to help but lacked thumbs. We shuck in the yard so we can hose away the corn silks. They get everywhere.
That pile of corn husks will do great in my compost pile.
Here’s the process of freezing corn: (R) I hang plastic all over the kitchen to catch the splatter from cutting corn off the cob. (L) Sam sautees the corn with butter (1 tbsp per 2 cups kernels), then spreads it on a sheet to cool. (C) We pack 2 cups per quart bag and lay them flat. The frozen bags make handy partitions in the chest freezer. The extra table is a sawing table the previous owners left in our garage.
A gross of corncobs is only slightly lighter than a gross of shucked corn. I used part of a cabbage leaf to top my jar of pickled corn.
We ended up with 43 bags (2 cups each) of frozen corn, 5 ears eaten on the cob, and a quart of pickled corn.


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This week in Veg: the last delivery of the Summer CSA.

This is the last week of vegetables from Cedar Circle. In the fall, Cedar Circle transitions to a pick up CSA model, where we would have to drive up to their farm every other week to pick up our vegetables. We decided the extra driving lessons so worth it, so we signed up with a different CSA for the fall/winter share.

I’m surprised to see we continue to get corn from the farm. There’s also a tiny little head of butter crisp lettuce, which I love to make into Thai style lettuce wraps.

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I said 9 dozen, not 9 ears…

The guy at the farmer’s market did a double-take when I asked him for 9 dozen ears of corn. He though I had asked for 9 ears of corn. And at $6-9 PER DOZEN I was rethinking my decision and checking the amount of cash I had in my wallet for this venture. The prices were the same inflated, yuppie-priced, markup flimflam that I’ve come to expect at our farmer’s market. I’m used to paying Wisconsin Fertile Farmland prices of $1-2 per dozen ears – and typically getting a baker’s dozen (13) for that price. No wonder some people believe that eating locally is financially unachievable for everybody. He was the lowest price at the market at $6/doz, but I talked the guy down to $5/doz… Still too pricy…

I’m not much of a fan of canned corn – I’d much rather have it frozen. I tried canned corn a few years back and the end product turned starchy and mushy. It was more like creamed corn than canned. Plus, frozen corn turns into 6″ x 6″ x 1″ building blocks that we use to make dividers in our chest freezer. We can keep the layers more distinct and keep the fruits and vegetables separate.

I follow the process that my mom taught me a few years back:

Husk the corn.

1.

Husk the corn. Tip: Husk the corn outside. Neither mops nor vacuum cleaners are good at picking up corn silks.
 Wash the corn and cut off any bad spots.

2.

Wash the corn and cut off any bad spots.
Cut the kernels from the cob.

3.

I prefer to cut the kernels from the cob rather than using any of those special corn cutters. I find a sharp knife makes the least amount of mess and splatter. Corn cutters aren’t usually as sharp and spray kernels everywhere. Plus, if you have a cob that is curved, corn cutters won’t work at all. Cut the kernels from the cob. Tip: Find a bowl with a footed base – a deep lip on the bottom of the bowl used to keep the bowl upright. Turn the footed bowl upside down in your Big Damn Bowl and use the foot to hold onto the ear of corn while you cut. It stablilzes the bottom of the ear of corn allowing you to cut all the way down to the bottom of the ear of corn without hitting the bottom of the bowl.
Saute the kernels with butter.

4.

In a nonstick skillet, saute 1 tbsp of butter with 2 cups of kernels on medium-high heat for about 3 minutes or until the kernels turn darker yellow and smell really good. Add a big pinch of salt if you’d like. Vegans: use vegetable oil instead of vegan butter spread. I tried it one year with the vegan butter spread and it left a harsh chemical taste in the corn.

5.

After sauteeing the corn, let it cool for a few minutes, so you don’t melt the plastic zipper bags. While you’re waiting for the batch to cool, sautee the next batch and label your plastic zipper bag.
Load into labeled zipper bags.

6.

Load 2 cups of cooked kernels into a plastic zipper bag. Use your bag filler. Spread the kernels evenly through the bag and press out the air.
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7.

Stack the bags into a box or cake pan so they will freeze flat. Freeze.


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This Week in Veg: No Lettuce!

So this week marks an important transition between spring and summer. We didn’t get any lettuce in our CSA box this week. We also didn’t get any tomatoes in our CSA box. This is very disappointing. What it means is there’s no period of time when the tomatoes overlap with the lettuce allowing us to eat BLT sandwiches. I love BLTs. There is no sandwich, save a simple sandwich made with tomato and mayonnaise, that even rivals the BLT in my opinion.

I guess I’m going to have to get up tomorrow and go to the farmers market. Buy some tomatoes, and a head of lettuce, so we can eat BLTs at least once this year.

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