Corn Pickin' Time

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday was corn pickin' day. That totaled up to 51 ears for us, 13 squirrel damaged. In a couple of days I'll go through again and see if any of the smaller secondary ears are worth picking. We've already had 14 for lunch the past week so 65 ears total. Worth the work to grow it!



Some experiments work and others go by the wayside. I had been wondering if I could save and dehydrate corn husks for making tamales since the groceries around here don't sell dried husks. I've never made a tamale in my life but have had some good ones. After online research for drying husks I tossed the two outer tough husks and carefully removed the next three layers until I had a bowl of them.



After soaking to make them less prone to staying rolled up and finally getting some flat enough to lay on dehydrator trays without splitting it only took about an hour and a half to get them completely dry. Long story short, they all curled up anyway and were probably too small to use and ended up on the compost pile. Oh well, inquiring minds had to know.

Next year when putting up the netting fence around the corn I'm going to pin the netting down tight to the ground every six inches with v-shaped "earth staples" that I'll make from cut pieces of wire hangers. There are some real ones that came with some covering I ordered years ago but I can't find them in the garden shed. But I can get wire hangers cheap from a local store that sells donated used stuff and make my own.

This morning will be corn processing day, cutting it off the cobs and tray freezing before bagging.

[worth1]

Yesterday was corn pickin' day. That totaled up to 51 ears for us, 13 squirrel damaged. In a couple of days I'll go through again and see if any of the smaller secondary ears are worth picking. We've already had 14 for lunch the past week so 65 ears total. Worth the work to grow it!



Some experiments work and others go by the wayside. I had been wondering if I could save and dehydrate corn husks for making tamales since the groceries around here don't sell dried husks. I've never made a tamale in my life but have had some good ones. After online research for drying husks I tossed the two outer tough husks and carefully removed the next three layers until I had a bowl of them.



After soaking to make them less prone to staying rolled up and finally getting some flat enough to lay on dehydrator trays without splitting it only took about an hour and a half to get them completely dry. Long story short, they all curled up anyway and were probably too small to use and ended up on the compost pile. Oh well, inquiring minds had to know.

Next year when putting up the netting fence around the corn I'm going to pin the netting down tight to the ground every six inches with v-shaped "earth staples" that I'll make from cut pieces of wire hangers. There are some real ones that came with some covering I ordered years ago but I can't find them in the garden shed. But I can get wire hangers cheap from a local store that sells donated used stuff and make my own.

This morning will be corn processing day, cutting it off the cobs and tray freezing before bagging.

Darn I walk past stacks of premium corn husks for tamales every day.
There are two types and several brands.
By the time you separate the bad from the good it's better to just buy the premium ones.
They need to be long wide and stacked neatly.
To cheeper brands come in all manner of sizes and frustration sets in trying to use them.
You need to cut the husk from the cob up away from the stem always and then dry.
And you need large long corn to do it.
The outer husks are the best for this because they are bigger.
You can also make tamales out of the green husks as well.
But here is how they actually do it.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks, Worth. I figured that the big husks from something like a large non-sweet corn were used. I just couldn't see the ones I used being big enough. Pickles grinned and said "for appetizers." Smart a$$. LOL!

I got it all cut off and tray frozen. Six quart bags, 3 cups per bag so good eating for future meals! Could have been more but I saved back eight ears for two more meals.

[DriftlessRoots]

We froze some fresh husks last season to see if they would work for tamales but haven’t gotten around to trying them. I’ll report back if that ever happens.