We had Corn Shucking Day most every year when I lived in the South as a child. A wonderful family friend who farmed crops and hogs would drive his pickup into the field and my Dad and older brother would help fill the big truck's bed with a hill of corn. When they dumped it into the middle of the farm yard under the shade trees, it seemed like a mountain to a little kid like me.
Everyone helped; some shucked, some silked, and the moms cut the sweet, white kernals off the cob into large enamaled dishpans. Then they would scrape the knife's edge down the cob to get out all the sweet corn milk and bits of endosperm that was the cream in the creamed corn. It seemed like tubs of of the stuff, which they blanched on the gas range and then spooned into one quart freezer bags. I helped with that, too, twisting each bag and tying it off twice against leaks. The warm bags were laid row upon row in the big freezer chest among similar bags of butterbeans and fieldpeas.
It was a lot of effort, mainly on the grownup's part, but come December when Mom pulled a package out of the deep freezer and cooked it down with pat or two of butter and salt and pepper, it was just fantastic. It made store bought cream corn taste like melted plastic. Pair up that sweet creamy corn with crunchy fried pork chops and buttery field peas, and there was no such thing as leftovers. Getting hungry?
Everyone helped; some shucked, some silked, and the moms cut the sweet, white kernals off the cob into large enamaled dishpans. Then they would scrape the knife's edge down the cob to get out all the sweet corn milk and bits of endosperm that was the cream in the creamed corn. It seemed like tubs of of the stuff, which they blanched on the gas range and then spooned into one quart freezer bags. I helped with that, too, twisting each bag and tying it off twice against leaks. The warm bags were laid row upon row in the big freezer chest among similar bags of butterbeans and fieldpeas.
It was a lot of effort, mainly on the grownup's part, but come December when Mom pulled a package out of the deep freezer and cooked it down with pat or two of butter and salt and pepper, it was just fantastic. It made store bought cream corn taste like melted plastic. Pair up that sweet creamy corn with crunchy fried pork chops and buttery field peas, and there was no such thing as leftovers. Getting hungry?
