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Homemade Freeze Dried Corn

Take your corn from the garden to the pantry shelf in just over 24 hours! Learn how to freeze-dry corn and turn it into a delicious cream corn recipe that’s a family favorite.

A man peeling back the husk of a corn.

How to Know When Corn is Ready to Harvest

Before you pick your corn off the stalk, you want to make sure it’s fully mature and ready. To know if your corn is ready to be picked, you need to make sure the silk coming out from the top of the corn looks brown and wilted, not yellow or green.

Second, the corn cob should look filled out, meaning the husk is tight around the corn cob.

Third, you can gently peel back the top of the husk to reveal the corn; if the kernels are developed all the way to the tip of the cob, it’s ready for picking!

However, as was the case in the video above, we were facing frost followed by a lot of rain, so we had to pick our corn whether it was ready or not!

What Is Freeze-Dried Corn?

Freeze-dried corn is not the same as dehydrated corn. It is fresh corn that has been frozen and had the frozen water removed from the corn during the freeze-drying process.

The Harvest Right freeze-dryer uses low pressure to drive the frozen water out of the food in gas form, preserving the food and retaining the natural color of the food as well. (Check out our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer 1 year review.)

Read freeze-dried vs. dehydrated foods to learn more about the differences between the two.

A man pouring freeze dried corn into a half gallon Mason jar.

Is Freeze-Dried Corn Good?

Yes! Freeze-dried corn that’s been rehydrated tastes like freshly cooked corn. Here are six different methods for rehydrating freeze-dried foods.

When you can or dehydrate food, a lot of the vitamins and nutrients are diminished, but by freeze-drying, nearly 98% of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients stay intact.

Freeze-drying food is quickly becoming one of our favorite preservation methods because of the nutrients that remain in the food once rehydrated. We enjoy freeze-dried berriesfreeze-dried eggsfreeze-dried avocados, freeze-dried milk, freeze-dried potatoes, freeze-dried garlic, and even freeze-dried chicken pot pie.

There aren’t many foods that cannot be freeze-dried.

Fresh corn being shucked.

How Long Does it Take to Freeze-Dry Corn?

Freeze-dried corn takes about 24 hours in the Harvest Right freeze-dryer. You can choose to pre-freeze your corn ahead of time, however, this isn’t necessary as the machine will do that for you.

A man cutting corn off a cob.
A man spreading fresh corn onto trays for freeze drying.
A man putting trays of fresh corn into a freeze dryer.

How to Freeze-Dry Corn

  1. Once your corn has been harvested and shucked, you want to remove the kernels from the cob just by using a knife and cutting them away.
  2. Place corn kernels into a large glass bowl and continue until all corn is off the cob.
  3. We have the larger Harvest Right freeze dryer, so we can fit about 12-13 ears of corn per tray.
  4. Because we’re freeze-drying the corn to use for multiple recipes, later on, we’re not going to blanch or flavor the corn ahead of time. We want to leave ourselves options for using the freeze-dried corn such as corn chowder, as a side dish, or even turned into the cream corn recipe below.
  5. Place a Silpat mat onto each freeze-dryer tray and fill with the corn kernels. You can really fill these trays, but you don’t want to have corn higher than the edge of the tray itself.
  6. Put corn into the freeze-drying unit and follow the instructions that came with your model (times or settings may be different depending on the size of your unit).
  7. After about 24 hours the corn should be done. (TIP: The machine will let you know when it is done!) Carefully remove the trays from the freeze-dryer, using a potholder if necessary as the trays may still be very cold.
  8. Place corn into half-gallon Mason jars, mylar bags, or a 5-gallon food-grade bucket with a Gamma-Seal lid and toss an oxygen absorber in to help prolong the shelf-life.
A man holding up a tray of freeze-dried corn.

Now that your corn is preserved for long-term storage, how will you use it? The quick answer is to rehydrate it and use it just as you would fresh corn, but if you’re still looking for a great recipe, check out Carolyn’s cream corn recipe below!

More Dehydration and Freeze Drying Resources

A man holding up a bowl of cream corn.

Bonus Cream Corn Recipe

Below is the cream corn recipe I demonstrated in the video. This recipe uses our freeze-dried corn and tastes incredible. As I mentioned, depending on your corn your ratios and ingredients may vary. So always start with the smaller recommendations and add more as needed.

Did you make this recipe? If so, we’d love for you to give it a star rating on the recipe card below! And if you’ve freeze-dried your own corn, or made this cream corn recipe, snap a photo and tag us on social media so we can see @homesteadingfamily.

A man holding up a bowl of cream corn.

Cream Corn Recipe (Using Freeze-Dried Corn)

Use your freeze dried corn to make this delicious cream corn recipe.
3.86 from 14 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 16 servings
Calories: 260kcal
Author: Josh Thomas

Ingredients

  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 4 cups freeze dried corn
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
  • 1 cup milk more if needed
  • 2 Tablespoons flour more if needed
  • 1 cup bacon cooked and chopped
  • 1 cup onions diced and sauteed
  • 1/4 cup parmesan grated

Instructions

  • Add freeze-dried corn and cream together in a large pot. Turn heat to medium and cook until the corn is completely rehydrated.
  • Add butter, salt, pepper, milk and flour and stir to combine (adding more milk, if needed).
  • Once the corn begins to thicken, stir in cooked bacon, sauteed onions and parmesan cheese.
  • Continue stirring until cream corn is thickened to your liking, taste and adjust seasonings.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 328mg | Potassium: 191mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 841IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?We want to see! Tag @homesteadingfamily on Instagram.
A man and wife smiling.

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Josh and Carolyn bring you practical knowledge on how to Grow, Cook, Preserve and Thrive on your homestead, whether you are in a city apartment or on 40 acres in the country. If you want to increase your self-sufficiency and health be sure to subscribe for helpful videos on gardening, preserving, herbal medicine, traditional cooking and more.

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