My grandparents used to put up 100 ears of sweet corn from nearby Kentucky cornfields at the end of every Summer. My Mimi would serve corn at many meals throughout the year to come, and it was always so fresh and delicious! After a trip to my grandparents (former) home, I decided to keep this family tradition going. I stopped by a local farmers produce stand while we were down at the farm last weekend and “put up corn”.

Since I wanted an afternoon activity, yet nothing too overwhelming, I bought 3 dozen ears - two bushel baskets full.

The boys went fishing and the girls sat on the porch to shuck the corn. It is actually a fun activity with little ones!

We dropped a large garbage bag for ease of clean-up later, and took all the husks and silks off each ear. The very nice and helpful lady selling the corn showed me the best way to shuck it - pull one side down, then snap the bottom, and the rest comes off rather easily.

Shucking over, we went inside and cut the corn kernels off of each cob. Thankfully my mother-in-law helped so the process went fairly quickly! But it was a lot of work – it made me think of all that work my grandparents had done over the years.

I called them and shared with them our afternoon of “putting up corn”. My Papa was pretty tickled over it, and handed the phone to Mimi so she could give me some guidance. I asked for her recipe and a bit of “how to” and she told me to “just use your head, Chelsea”.

So I did. Once you have all the corn off the cobs, you sauté it for a couple of minutes – not cooking it completely. A little bit of butter, dash of sugar, pinch of salt & pepper, and dribble of milk (the latter only if the mixture seems dry). When you’re ready to eat it in the cold of Winter, simply pull a bag out of the freezer and cook it through.

There’s your recipe – just use your head! :)

Once cooled, we bagged them – about 6 servings in quart size ziplocks. I was a little surprised that only 10 bags resulted from the three bushels of corn. I now appreciate even more the work my grandparents did when starting with 100 ears of corn!

I plan to keep the “putting up the corn” tradition going forward and creating those memories for my own family. By the way last week, my mother-in-law made a delicious peach cobbler from the last peaches of the season, and my Mom made a yummy blueberry pie from her last delivery from Mr. Blueberry. What are you making to enjoy or preserve the taste of Summer crops? I would love to know!

Enjoy these last few days of Summer and have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! I am going to wait on some cold Fall weather before I pull from my stock pile in the freezer for a serving of fresh, sweet corn. Well, maybe not that long!

xxChelsea