Sweet Freezer Corn

I will be the first to admit that I have this love-hate relationship with corn on the cob.  I love corn!  It's by far one of my more favorite veggies that God has made.  However, I hate getting it stuck in my teeth.  Hate, hate, hate it!  I also hate to floss so it makes the loathing even more so.  
Well, when I was a kid my mom always made this yummy recipe for freezer corn.  That way, when harvest time rolled around, we would spend a good part of a day cutting the sweet and juicy kernels off the cob to package up for freezer preservation, and we were able to enjoy it all year.  
This is a recipe my Great Grandma always made and it's just gone through the family generation after generation.  Who knows, maybe her Grandma made it for her?  Today I wanted to share the recipe with you.  it's so simple to make.  Although, I will admit, the process is not a really quick one.  Maybe you can convince your husband or best friend to help out and just make a day out of it.  It would make the whole job go by more quickly.  However, I didn't have any help and it really wasn't all that bad.   

To start with, in making your Sweet Freezer Corn, you will need about 36 ears of fresh sweet  corn on the cob.  You can use any type/breed of corn that you like best.  Our family just likes the sweet corn and that's what we have always used.  Luckily, there is a family that lives just down the street from us who owns a huge farm and they grown their own corn.  I'm able to purchase a dozen ears from them for $3.  Pretty good price in my opinion!
Shuck and clean the corn, then pat it dry.  

 
Next is the long, and somewhat tedious process.  You will need to cut the kernels off of the cob and try to get as much as you can without actually cutting into the core.  And YES, you are going to do this with RAW corn.  Just trust me, and keep reading.
My tip for you is to use a bunt pan.  I place the cob in the center of the pan, then as I am cutting all of the kernels off, they fall into the pan and make less of a mess.

I can usually fit about 6-8 cobs of corn into my bunt pan before its too full.  Once you get it too full, dump it into a roasting pan and repeat the process until you have emptied all 36 cobs or your pan is full.  Whichever comes first.

You will then mix up your "secret sauce".  I will warn you right now:  This is NOT a healthy recipe!!  Yes it's a vegetable, but this sauce counteracts it all.  However, it's so delicious you won't care.  Splurge a little in life.  That's what your workout is for!
The secret sauce consists of....wait for it......butter and Half & Half.  
I warned you!
You will need a pound of butter and a pint of Half & Half.  Melt the butter, whisk in the Half & Half and then pour it over all the corn in your roasting pan.

Now, just cover your pan with foil and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.

You will want to stir it half way through just to turn the kernels off of the bottom of the pan, but just recover it and finish baking it.

When it comes out, it will smell heavenly and look something like this:

Let the mixture cool for about 15 minutes and then you will be ready to package it up.  I use quart sized plastic bags.  You can do containers if you want, but the bags take up less room in my freezer.  My trick to making it less messy is to turn the tops of the bags down.  You do not want to get the interlocking zip closure things dirty or they won't seal correctly.  Just do a whole lot of them.  

I also use a wide bottom funnel and a ladle.  Simply put the ladle inside the bag and hold the bag with one hand while spooning the mixture in with the other hand.  

Once you have your bag as full as you would like, seal it up, removing as much as extra air as possible.  I fill my quart sized bags about half full.  It seems to be as much as my family will eat when serving it as a side dish.  However you can do as much or as little as you'd like.  I am able to get 5-6 bags out of 1 batch when filling them with this amount.

I place all of the bags, flat, on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer to set up.  I made about 16 bags this last week and had bought about 6 dozen ears of corn.  It's not a recipe that produces a ton, but it's not too terribly expensive either.  When you figure you are paying between 50-80 cents (or more) for a can of corn at the store, and you can get at least twice that amount in a bag, it evens out or tends to be a bit cheaper to make your own.  At least for me it did.

To serve this yummy bit of goodness, just thaw it, dump it in a container to heat and serve.  I tend to drain the milk/butter off of it when serving it so it's no so soupy, but you do want the liquid while freezing it.  This just helps it to not dry out over time.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Sweet Freezer Corn

35 Ears of Corn (do not blanch)

1 pound of butter

1 pint of half and half

Cut the corn from the ears and place the kernels in a roaster pan. Add the butter and half and half. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour with the lid on. Stir occasionally. Let the corn cool slightly and then package and freeze.