A-maize-ing Corn!
In early spring we made a trip to the feed store where they have a good selection of seeds. We had trouble getting Candy to leave but we did get a bounty of seeds, including corn!
We tilled the soil and planted the corn, watered and fertilized, watched it grow until you could barely see arms stretched above a head.
Now it's time to harvest our bounty!
Once picked we removed the husks right in the garden. A lot of them were perfect but because they're organic just as many had bugs. Not to worry, our chickens love bugs & corn!
While Candy guards the cut corn stalks and her ball, we're heading into the kitchen to turn fresh corn into everlasting corn.
We start by washing the cobs and removing most of any remaining hair. The cobs are then put into a steamer and placed in a pot with boiling water for five minutes. We're not trying to cook them, just blanch them. Once removed we allow them to cool before removing the kernels. You can do this with a knife or corn stripper but we've found an electric knife is the fastest and easiest way. Next we place the corn kernels on trays, spread them out and place them in our dehydrator overnight. Once dried they're removed from the dehydrator, then placed into jars and vacuum sealed for storage. They weigh very little and take up a lot less space. We fit 85 ears of corn into these two jars!!! We'll re-hydrate and use this corn throughout the winter in soups and casseroles.
Hello friend Brimax, every time you surprise me pleasantly, I know a little about the sowing and harvesting of the corn, but I did not know the procedure to keep them ready to use in winter time you and us in any occasion, I clean them and freeze them, They take up a lot of space, so I'll try to make them as you say in your post. I have the steam pot but not the desidatrador, I ask @anise what else could I do, I see the cocks are big and beautiful, I really congratulate you for all that love that you profess, that everything you undertake is multiplied , you are worthy of family example, together with Candy that gives that touch of tremendura, and entertainment to you, good friend greetings, @brimax
As always, thank you kindly. I know you mentioned that you don't have a dehydrator so after a little searching I found this article that explains how to dry corn without one. It would certainly allow you to store more if it didn't have to be stored in the freezer.
https://igrow.org/up/resources/04-1000-2014.pdf
Enjoy the article!
Grateful friend brimax, I will read all the content, now here in Venezuela it is time to harvest corn, so your information comes to me like a glove, thank you very much and greetings @brimax
You're welcome
Saludos amigo @brimax, primero que nada felicitaciones por tener en tu jardin uno de los mejores alimentos que la tierra nos puede ofrecer el maiz y la forma en que los preparas para despúes utilizarlo es excelente no sabia esa forma de prepararlos, todos los dias aprendemos algo nuevo
Siempre estamos felices de compartir el poco conocimiento que tenemos con todos. Estamos aún más felices de que amigos como usted sigan encontrando interés en lo que compartimos. Gracias.
Hello Friend how are you? very good harvest the corn is given much in my country we even prepare something called cachapa and we have a month where the cachapa is made the procedure is done with the knife although I do not have an electric one I do manual then that goes like that to the blender and it comes out a spice of cream or dough we put a little sugar, salt, eggs and wheat flour if we want some milk and take it to a sart and leave the cachapas
I like this process that you do now I have a doubt that the final results are maize to prepare popcorn?
Chachapa's sound delicious! My understanding is you use a special variety of corn in order to make popcorn. We haven't tried it yet, but we may in the future!
If you should try to make some cachapas surely they would fit very well
We just might try it!
Friend, how are you? another good harvest where nothing is wasted, it is very nice to see the video, I like to see the tools they have because they are very helpful, even the chickens take advantage of the harvests, I love seeing Candy, Your technique for storing it did not know her
In my country with that corn we made some delicious cachapas and we accompanied them with cheese
Greetings Anis and Candy
This picture of chachapa is making my mouth water!!!!
How are you all on the farm? Candy has been very active working and always with a good face I'm glad to see her equal to you I think they make a great team
I like that electric knife I want one, I am a lover of corn here in my country prepare infinities of things with corn, both sweet and salted, you can eat up some corn arepas
Good process now have corn for some months
We sure hope you can get an electric knife if it's something you really desire. Like you I love salt on my corn..mmmmmm!
If I would like to have a knife of these and I think it would save me a lot of work at home
Yum! Your corn looks fantastic :D The idea of dehydrating is fascinating to me. I have one, a dehydrator that is and have done up several things with it. I've not yet done corn, but now it is on the list lol. Our corn season comes in early so I will wait for some fresh from the field sweet corn. Can you do a post on rehydrating and using the corn sometime? That would be awesome!
Glad to see that no one is going to sneak up and steal your cornstalks with Candy guarding that enormous pile LOL
We'll definitely do a video on rehydrating. During the winter when very little is happening in the garden we tend to do a lot of videos focused around food and cooking so you can count on it!
For a minute we thought we might lose those corn stalks, but thanks to the ferocious nature of the canine beast that is known only by her stripper name the bounty of future compost remained safe and secure.
Doggy treat?
Hahaaaa Yes!! In fact, she deserves two treats for such outstanding work lol. I look forward to the wintertime videos :D
Thanks, you can count on it!
Brother, how are you? I'm glad to hear from you, you got a good crop of corn and without wasting anything because even for the chickens there is that technique that you use to conserve maize grains as it is called? What can you prepare with them?
Follow the blessings in the brother farm, greetings to your wife and Candy
Thank you Brother. We usually use our dehydrated corn in soups and casseroles. Typically we'll put them in warm water for 30-60 minutes to rehydrate them. You can also put them in water and place in the refrigerator overnight to rehydrate.
The taste of rehydrated vegetables is like fresh from the garden.....and takes up a lot less space!
I haven't tried growing sweet corn in several years, I realized I didn't want to have to do all the work of cutting it off the cobs. That's why I grow flour corn and popcorn. Much easier to deal with. :-)
We haven't tried either the flour or popping corn. Maybe this is something we should put on our list?
Well, popcorn is easier to deal with because you don't have to grind it, you just pop it like the store bought stuff. I'd say try the popcorn first, but don't plant it by the sweet corn or it will cross pollinate.
If we give it a try we'll most likely plant only the one variety. You can count on a post about if we do!
The harvest season is a long-awaited moment, hopefully the harvest can be used well.
Thank you for sharing tips on managing good harvests @brimax.
Thank you kindly Brother!
Hello my friend how are you? I am eagerly waiting your post because your post is very educative and i like it. Nice to meet you again. Your Corn post is very nice. Thanks my friend.Stay good...
Thank you very much.