Since we grow in a cooler climate, we’ve never been able to harvest sweet corn for the 4th of July holiday. Now is the perfect time of year to enjoy our corn and stock up on extra to freeze for those winter soups, stews, and casseroles.
There is a difference between Sweet Corn, Field Corn, and Popcorn. Iowa and Illinois are the corn kings for field corn used in processing and feed. But, California is the largest US grower of sweet corn, producing 25% of our country’s supply. The harvest starts in May in the Coachella Valley, the first to get any heat, and continues up through the San Joaquin Valley, with the Coast harvesting at the end of the season into October.
This season, Talley Farms is growing about 16 acres of sweet corn and should have supplies available into October. All of the produce we grow is from non-GMO seed, and our corn is a special bi-color variety, with white and yellow kernels. We are packing 4-6 ears in each Talley Box, but you can customize your box to add more. We are also offering corn boxes at a discount, containing 25 ears per box.
The easiest way to freeze your corn is to use a bundt pan. Shuck your corn, wash it, and stick the cob a little way into the hole of the pan. Cut the kernels off, letting them fall into the pan, then spread them out on a sheet pan and freeze. Store them in a freezer bag in your freezer.
It’s important to pre-cool corn, right after harvest, to get the field heat out. (What’s pre-cooling? Check out our videos here.) Corn starts turning from sugar to starch the moment it is picked, so the fresher your corn, the sweeter it is. As Hazel Talley once said, “Don’t pick the corn until the water is boiling!”
