Dehydrating Sweet Corn with a Magic Mill Dehydrator

Preservation madness has been going on around our homestead as of late.  I have so much to share and am going back to the beginning to tell my adventures.  While finding various ways to preserve plums, the sweetcorn in our area was ripening.  A combination of great farming friends brought some of the best tasting corn into our home with open invitations to pick more.  How wonderful is that?  After eating sweet corn at dinner for two weeks straight and filling the freezer with small, portioned Food Saver bags, I decided to try my hand at dehydrating sweet corn.  From all of my studies, the dehydrated corn, stored properly, will last for years.  (Not that I intend on holding it that long.)  I was equally intrigued by some adventurous souls milling some of their corn and making corn bread.  You know that Mock Mill will be coming soon! ;)  

After eating and freezing the sweet corn gifted to us at each of our places of work from some awesome farmers, Mr. Hollow was kind enough to take up an offer to go pick at one of his friend's farm whose family had already harvested what they needed.  Once I started processing that haul, hubby's bosses' field ripened, and he was given the opportunity to pick even more.  (So many wonderful people to be surrounded by on a daily basis. We are truly blessed.)  Both of my fridges were constantly filled with corn on a rotating schedule.  lol   The dehydrating of the corn was a little bit easier for me to put together and was easy to manage after a full day at work.

First, shuck the first dozen or so ears of corn, get the smaller corn pot boiling with water, blanch the corn for approximately 8 minutes, and slice the kernels from the cobs.  I found working with the smaller pot allowed the first batch to cool before the second batch was blanched.  Then, I could begin the slicing with the first ears out of the pot, allowing the second batch to cool as it waited, and not hold up the assembly line of slicing.  **Additional note...  If you decide to blanch a larger batch and refrigerate, make sure you break up the slabs into individual (or close to it) kernels.  Once they are cold, it is a real bugger to try to pry the slabs apart.   Ask me how I know! ;) 

 

My Magic Mill dehydrator has six shelves.  It arrived with two plastic screens to aid in the dehydrating of smaller items.  I ordered some BPA free dehydrating mesh to cut and fit for the remaining four shelves.  After the corn kernels were broken from the slabs, the process of loading the trays lined with mesh began.  I didn't get to freaked out about individual kernels touching, but I did not mound the corn either.  Each level of the Magic Mill held approximately 2 medium ears of corn.  After researching the internet for temps and times, I found my corn took a bit longer to dry.  So, in case you are using a Magic Mill as well, it took my corn 11 hours at 131 degrees.  If you go shorter and it doesn't feel dry, just turn the dehydrator back on and give it a few more hours.  No worries.  You can't mess this step up!  

How do you know when it is done?  Give it a pinch.  If the kernels are as hard as candy, you are done.  They will break when you try to bend them and will have a non-tooth-breaking crunch when you chew them.  Yes, I did say chew it. lol  Actually, a nice flavor as well.  

Each level was left to sit in the dehydrator for a few hours to cool and produced slightly less than a cup full of dried corn.  I was very impressed with that!   The corn was moved into a gallon Ziploc where it remained until all the corn was processed.  Then, I took some clean pint jars, some used ball lids reheated in water, and tried out my Food Saver vacuum ball jar sealer.  And guess what?  It worked wonderfully!  Plus, it was another great way to keep using the spent jar lids!  :)   I was accidentally lucky enough to have purchased a Food Saver with the extension for one.  Our combined effort put 11 pints of dehydrated sweet corn on the shelf.  I couldn't be happier.  Plus, it was an effortless and non-taxing project for during the work week.  It will definitely be an annual event should the supply chain present itself again.

At the beginning of the week, I made some beef stew and almost forgot my stash of corn, since this was my first year attempting it.  It was added in the broth stage and took approximately 20 to 30 minutes to rehydrate as the stew simmered way beyond that.  The corn tasted and had the texture of having just been sliced off the cob.  Even my hubby was impressed!  Now that is saying something!!  Also, one extra bonus...  Opening a jar is like smelling fresh sweet corn in the middle of summer.  A definite pick-me-up on a chilly fall or winter day.  :)