Friday, August 14
What fun to help Jere and Kristen prepare lots of corn for the freezer.
By the time I got there at 8:15 AM, all the corn – 360 ears – had been husked and was ready for desilking. I had to wait for Cerwin to fit it into his work day (TFC shop) because one of our RAV4’s was at the garage for an oil change – and they didn’t need me before then.
Jere, Kristen, Jared and Jesse had everything quite organized in their driveway and nearby yard – including a gas stove rented from Longeneckers Hardware, desilking machine, tables, tubs and fans (fans keep flies and bugs away).
I was especially interested in the corn desilking machine Jere rented from PaulB Hardware.
Jere opened the machine so I could see the brushes.
What a clever invention. We live in an area where “if it can be invented to make life easier” it will be invented. 🙂
Jesse showed me how to do it – which isn’t difficult. Insert a corn cob into the machine – which uses water and brushes – and have someone on the other end to catch the cob.
If you missed Josh, Jana and Ian in these pictures, Josh lives and works in Philadelphia, Jana was working at Fox Meadows Creamery and Ian had his four wisdom teeth extracted the day before – two were coming in crooked – so he was relaxing on the couch with ice packs on his cheeks. I offered to take a picture of him for this post, but he declined. 🙂
When all the silk had been removed from the corn, Jesse took a handful to the chickens.
It gathers on the interior walls of the desilking machine and can be easily removed.
Next it was cooked – then put on ice in one large ice chest, then in another.
It was then put in tubs for the next job – cutting off the kernels.
Kristen and I took care of that job while the guys cleaned up all the prep items. I think this is the first time I did corn since 1990 when we starting serving with Transport For Christ (now TFC Global) on a fulltime basis. We are mostly retired – since last fall, after the truck shows – so I now have time to help our family with things like this.
Cerwin helps at the TFC Global office and shop as needed – maintenance, mowing yard in summer and snow removal in winter. I still do bulk mailings – usually one or two a week. Some weeks there are none. That fits nicely into a retired life.
Later in the day Jere took the desilking machine to someone else who had reserved it for the next day. It was closer to take it to their house than back to PaulB Hardware.
By noon the corn looked like this…
…and the cobs looked like this.
Jere and Kristen gave us about two dozen packs for our freezer. They do this every year – as our Christmas in August gift – one of the reasons I didn’t have to do this when our lives were busy.
When the corn was done, we pulled leaves off mint so Kristen could make mint tea for the freezer.
Love these pictures and your descriptions of the process! That desilking machine is wonderful! I have helped a friend here, with corn, but we had to desilk it by hand and then instead of cooking it and taking it off the cob, we froze the corn on the cob in vacuum packed bags for our freezers. I like your way better! Although, I was thankful for the home grown corn in whatever form it made it into my freezer. 🙂
This is the first year they used the desilking machine. They will use it again next year. It is so nice to do corn outside because it is a messy process.
We bought a desilking machine like that to use and rent out to others. The most despised job has now become the favorite job!
Nice. Yes, it was fun to use.
I never heard of a desilking machine. What a great invention! The farm where I used to buy corn is gone, but I recently got some at the Farmers Market that wasn’t too expensive and put some in the freezer. I wonder why home-frozen corn tastes so much better than frozen corn bought at the grocery store?
I did not know there was something like a desilking machine either – until I saw the one Jere rented. I’ve also wondered why commercially frozen corn isn’t as good as home-frozen.
Love everything about this! I remember sitting in the yard cutting corn off the cob for freezing. So much better to do it outside rather than inside where everything can get so sticky from the starch. And yes, home-frozen “creamed” corn tastes so much better than store-bought — store-bought corn just has the kernels sliced off, it doesn’t have the cob scraped for the extra starch. 🙂
It was a great memory from this summer. I agree with the delicious taste of scraping the cob for extra sweet taste. 🙂