July 7, 2010

Freezer, Corn & Grandma Jane

Last week Jeramy and I bought a new upright Frigidaire freezer from Best Buy. It is so great to finally have a place to stock up items when we buy in bulk. When Easter and Christmas roll around, hams are usually on sale for around $1/lb. and it's great to be able to hoard them away all year. We enjoy the fresh ham sandwiches and using the bones and thick slices for seasoning beans, greens, etc.

The urgency for this purchase is because of the corn harvest going on now. We "put up" creamed corn which is an all-day event. When Jeramy and I just got engaged (July 2006) and I came down to GA to meet his family, there was one day that we were going to "put up" corn. I come from Northern VA and had never heard of this before, but I knew it was a big deal because of how stressed out Mrs. Anderson was while making preparations.

The day came to "put up" corn and I learned that it's pretty involved. First you must order or reserve a specific number of bushels of your preferred species of corn (silver queen) from a local farmer. After picking it up in your pickup truck, you bring it home, cut off the end, shuck it, silk it, blanch it, cool it, cream it, bag it and freeze it. All or most of this takes place outside because it's extremely messy! (Pictures forthcoming) Yesterday we managed to put up 5 bushels of corn, 30 quarts of creamed corn and about 25 ears of corn on the cob, in about 6 hours. In this way, we are able to enjoy fresh creamed corn and corn on the cob all year long.

Jeramy likens creamed corn to gold because of the work involved and the taste. It's a privilege. It's not anything like what comes in the store, canned or frozen. That is NOT creamed corn!

Grandma Jane came up yesterday to help us put up corn and to visit before the baby comes. We definitely miss having her so far away now. We used to live right across the street and it was so nice. Now we must be content to enjoy her presence, cooking and wonderful attitude about once a month. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful Mother-in-Law!



1 comment:

Apologist & Theologian said...

Creamed Corn in the store = Elmer's Glue