Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sweet Golden Goodness


We were almost out of canned cream style corn and the resident poet said maybe we had better have some more.  So I went off this morning to a local farm I found by reading the local paper online, I can't believe it has been there for 30 years and I never knew it!  Anyway, after traversing up the freeway and turning down country suburb street, I actually drove past it and had to back up about 10 feet.  Don't worry, there was no one else in sight on the road.
The above photo is the corn after I shucked it.  I even got 2 baby corn ears which I stuck in the pickle jar.
Then I cut it all off the cob.  I like doing cream style, you don't have to be neat and get big niblets off the ear.
This corn is the best I have seen in years, like I remember seeing when I was a child.  It was so fresh and obviously organic, one ear had a corn borer that tried to escape me.
I think I had 28 ears, I bought 20 but they gave me the left overs from Friday too.  I love free food!  This is a huge bowl about 15" in diameter.
Then it went in the food processor, sure glad I didn't have to chop or grind it by hand.  About 5 or 6 batches to get it all done.  Then I heated it, got the pressure canner heated with the jars, got the lids in heated water and then filled up the jars with corn and a bit of salt.  Pressure canned them for 85 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.
This is the first batch just out of the canner.  I will have 16 half pints as soon as the second batch are done.
Canning is so satisfying, the jars are so pretty and you have real food that you know what went into it.
And did I mention that I have done this today in 91 degree temps, high humidity and no air conditioning?
Actually it is a lot more comfortable today than my old apartment used to be.  It was usually 110 in the kitchen on canning days.   And of course you can't put up fresh veggies in the winter, the ones from the grocery store are tasteless.
As to the farm, I also got some gorgeous tomatoes that actually smell like tomatoes, okra, green beans, new potatoes, green onions and a jar of bread & butter pickles for the resident poet as he loves them.  
When I open a jar to use, all I do is add some butter and heat in the microwave.

5 comments:

Sea Gypsy said...

Oh my goodness! I know how good that corn is going to be! Nothing like it! Hard work, but so worth it!

June said...

Ahhhh!
FRESH vegetables!
Don't you feel as if you are wallowing in RICHES?!?!?

Recycled Cottage & Garden said...

Definitely June! Hearing that little pop when they seal is one of my favorite sounds.

Lord Wellbourne said...

I remember those canning days in the old place. Did you use the glass funnel? I'm thinking when it eventually gets cold--sometime in December or January--you'll pop open one of those puppies, add some real butter and serve it with your excellent pork chops. No one did pork chops like you. Sigh......

Recycled Cottage & Garden said...

I doubt we'll wait for the cold weather to hit......and yes I will add real butter!

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