We decided to grow sweet corn in our garden this year for the first time and were pleasantly surprised by how successful it was. Then the thought occurred to me – We can’t possibly eat all this corn at once. In comes the pressure canner. We shall learn how to preserve corn by pressure canning! Freezing is also an option but we dedicate our freezer space for meat storage.
Remember, corn is a non-acidic food so it MUST be canned in a pressure canner. If you are interested in the different types of canning then check out my previous post:
There are 2 different ways to can corn:
- Raw Pack: Pack lightly into hot jars and add boiling water, leaving 1-inch headspace.
- Hot Pack: Simmer kernels for 5 minutes, and then pack into jars. Top off with cooking water, leaving 1-inch headspace.
We chose the raw pack method which was rather successful and I will describe our step-by-step process, but first a couple tips:
- Processing corn in the pressure canner takes a long time. 55 minutes for pint jars (16oz) and 1 hour 25 minutes for quart jars (32oz). Make sure you have enough time to process your corn and monitor the pressure canner.
- We had much more success with the smaller pint jars (16oz). They sealed up nicely without too much water loss. The Quart jars (32oz) lost too much water and had seal failures. We are not sure if the raw kernels absorbed too much water, or if the lids were not put on tight enough, or we didn’t release enough air when we were done packing them. Either way, I recommend using pint jars.
Instructions:
1.) Roughly 1-2 dozen corn will fill 8 pint jars, but this is not an exact science as all corn varies in size. Start off by removing the kernels. This gets a little messy as the corn kernels contain milky fluid so do this step over a pan or a bowl. You can either use a knife to remove kernels or a corn kernel stripper. We used this one
2.) Pack kernels into hot jars (Your jars should be sitting in a hot water bath prior to filling them) and top with boiling water leaving 1-inch headspace.
3.) Add 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt to each pint jar (1 tsp per quart if using quart jars). Remove air bubble using a rubber spatula or bubble remover
4.) Wipe the jar rims clean so that no food particles will interfere with the sealing process.
5.) Put your jars in the pressure canner and process according to the directions for your specific canner. For us that was 10 pounds of pressure for 55 minutes per pint jar (1 hour 25 minutes for quart jars). Always remember, if you are canning at a higher altitude that 1,000 feet above sea level you will have to adjust the pressure on your canner.
6.) Turn off the burner once the processing time is over. Let the pressure canner cool naturally for 20-30 minutes (until the gauge reads 0 pressure and there is no more steam being released) before removing the lid and removing jars. Do not force the canner to cool down with cold water. This can warp the metal and cause the canner to become unsafe for future use.
7.) Let jars cool on a cooling rack and do not disturb until they reach room temperature. The corn will have darkened after it is processed. This is due to the caramelization of the sugar. The darker the corn, the sweeter it is. Ensure the jars seal correctly before storing.
Voila! You have preserved your sweet corn for long term storage!
