How to can corn you grew at home

Last Updated on September 7, 2020 by cmoarz

It’s such a shame corn only grows in summer, And doesn’t last that long on it’s own. I mean, you could go to the store and buy some.. but whats in it, whats on it? Who knows. Or you could learn how to can corn you grew at home like a boss and have some all year long!

There are tons of ways to preserve corn but the best way to keep it as fresh as possible is to can it. It will still tastes great years after you’ve picked it just like it was picked a day before you ate it.

It’s really easy too, Let’s get into the simple steps on canning home grown corn. You can also use this on store bought corn.

Step 1: Shucking your corn

As cool and easy as it would be, You can’t just go tossing entire cobs into the can and off you go. I mean.. Theoretically maybe? But why would anyone do this!

So it’s best to shuck your corn. Don’t worry, it’s not hard. Although it is a very messy process so.. Be prepared for that. If i had to rate what’s worse, shucking corn or de-scaling fish.. Ok corn is still better. At least it doesn’t stick on everything forever like glitter.

The steps on how to shuck corn are simple.

1. Grab the top of the corn husk (green layer) and pull down hard to remove the leaf/paper husk.
2. Place the corn in a large, dry bucket. Don’t add water to this step yet, Because the corn needs to be dry for the next step.. which is..

Step 2: Removing hair’s, aka silking the corn

Gross corn has hair? Yes! sort of :P. Not really. But it does have a lot of fibers sticking out and the best way to remove them is with a toothbrush. So get out your handy corn toothbrush and start rubbing the cob down. The hair should fly off effortlessly.

Once the hairs are removed, go ahead and give the cobs a good wash in clean water, You are about to start the canning process.

But, before we get to the canning process we just have 1 more thing to do..

Step 3: Removing the corn from the cob

Time to remove the kernels from the cob. This part is very easy, But you should do this over a large pan, or table and the corn may go flying in unpredictable vectors.

I’ve heard of some people recommending a cake pan with a hole in the center to hold your corn cog. It’s not necessary tho. There are several devices you can find on amazon to help you long with this process as well.

Take the cob and your knife and at the top of the corn start cutting down to remove the kernels. You must use a very sharp knife for this or you will just end up squishing and ripping the kernels off the cob which will cause all the juiciness to leak out.

You definitely don’t want that if you want nice creamy corn.

Once the corn is removed from the cob you can do what ever you want with the cob part. Some people save them for lots of reasons – It’s up to you. I personally just throw them out or compost them.

Step 4: Adding the corn to the jar

Time to get out your sterilized mason jars and covers. Remember this step is vital in canning, you MUST sterilize your jars. The best way to do this is give them a good wash and than boil them, Or, if your lucky, your dish washer may have a sterilization setting which you can also use.

Your lid’s should be sterilized too, don’t forget them. Boil them for a couple minutes minimum.

Alright, Your ready when your confident the jars are sterilized, it’s time to get started. Toss in one teaspoon of canning salt per quart into your sanitized jars.

Start loading the corn into the jars. Use a canning funnel to avoid cross contamination.

Corn doesn’t expand or contract so your pretty good to fill it right to the neck of the bottle, Nice and tight (but don’t touch the corn with your hands, use sterilized containers. Rule of thumb tho, Is never place anything inside the jar except what’s being canned. Just do your best to get it packed in.

Once the jars are full up to the neck pour in boiling water, Be sure to use a ladle and funnel or similar to avoid burning yourself.

Once that’s done, take a sterilized cloth and wipe down the rims of the can’s one last time to make sure they are sparkling clean, Any debris at all will cause the seal to fail.

Attach your sterilized lids and close them tight because you’re about to put them in a pressure canner.

Step 5: Pressure canning the corn

Once you’ve done the above step it’s time to place these bad boy’s into the pressure caner.

Depending on the size of your pressure caner and the jars you are canning, Add the correct amount of water to the bottom of the caner. Please see the instructions for your specific device. You don’t want it to blow up do you? Do it right.

The cans will need about 90 minutes for quart jars and 60 minutes for pint jars. You should have the caner set to 10lbs of pressure.

As usual, wait for the pressure to drop before opening your caner, It’s very dangerous not too.

Grab your handy jar picker upper tool, aka a grabber, and remove the jars from the caner. Place them on a cookie sheet or a towel on the counter and allow them to cool down for a full day.

Now the fun part, check if they all sealed. You already know how to do this. If any of them did not seal, take a look at our article here on how to re-proccess canning jars.

Congrats, You just learned how to can corn wasn’t that easy? Now clean up your disaster of a kitchen and get crackin’ on next years harvest.

More visual? Check out The wisconsin vegetable gardener’s video instead