I love keeping home canned corn on hand. Although canning corn takes a little bit longer than canning other vegetables does, it’s totally worth it. There’s nothing like the flavor of locally grown sweet corn during summer, and when you can your own corn you can enjoy that bit of summer all year long.

We like to use canned corn for recipes like taco soup, shepherd’s pie and black bean and corn salsa. I will also add corn to our venision  or beef stew   if corn wasn’t available when I canned the stew. I love having local, home canned corn in my pantry to use in these dishes.

 I have a super fancy recipe for canning corn, basically it’s corn, water, and bit of non-iodized salt. I guess that’s not really fancy, but it is good.

Preparing the corn for canning

Before you can pressure can the corn you need to prepare it by shucking it and cutting it off the cob. We like to do this outside since we seem to be kind of messy corn shuckers and we’re usually doing about 100 ears at a time. It’s just better if we do it outside.

When we shuck the corn we also remove as much silk as we can and cut out any bad spots.

Once it’s all shucked we bring it inside and start cutting it off the cob. We just use a sharp knife and an old roasting pan. I’ve heard of some people using a bundt cake pan and  balancing the cob on the middle and letting the cut kernels drop down into the pan. I don’t have  bundt pan but if you do it’s worth trying.

Some people blanch their corn cobs before cutting off the corn kernels. I don’t, I’m pretty much an anti-blancher, but if you want to blanch the corn first feel free to.

How to blanch the corn

1. Fill large pot with water and bring to a boil.
2. Fill sink with ice water.
3. Put corn on cob in boiling water for 2 minutes (any longer and it will start cooking, so 2 minutes only)
4. Remove corn with tongs and put into ice cold water to stop cooking process

How to Can Corn

I like to do what’s called a raw pack for canning corn. That means you don’t heat the corn up before you can it. If you want to do a hot pack, put the corn in a pot and add some water and simmer the corn kernels for 5 minutes.

Once the corn is prepared it’s time to prepare the supplies. If you have help with shucking and cutting the corn, you can go ahead and prepare the canning jars, lids, and pressure canner while the shucking and cutting is going on.

You absolutely need to use a pressure canner to can corn properly. I *know* great, great grandmas just boiled it forever in a water bath, however, that’s all they had and truly we have no idea what some of those consequences were. Pressure canners are widely available and if you use it regularly you’ll make your invest back in less than a year. It’s truly a time and money saver. Here are some tips for using a pressure canner.

It takes about 2 – 2 1/2 cobs of corn to fill one pint size mason jar. So, if you have 100 ears of corn you’ll need about 40-50 pint size canning jars or 20 – 25 quart size jars.

1. Wash jars and hot soapy water and rinse them well (There is no need to sterilize jars or lids if you’re processing for more than 10 minutes – which we are)
2. Wash lids
3. Put pressure canner on stove and add water and rack according to the manufacturers instructions.
4. Fill a pot or large tea kettle with water and set it to boil (this is for filling the jars)
5. Put non-iodized salt in each jar – 1/2 tsp per pint and 1 tsp per quart (optional, for seasoning purposes only)
6. Pack corn kernels into jars. I don’t stuff them full, loosely pack them and leave a 1 inch headspace. If you don’t have enough head space remove a few kernels of corn with a spoon. 
7. Add boiling water to jars leaving a 1 inch headspace
8. Using a plastic spatula, a chopstick, or bubble remover, remove the air bubbles in the jars by gently sliding the bubble remover tool between the jar and the corn.
9. Wipe jar rims
10. Put lids and bands on jars. I like to use reusable canning lids for corn since I don’t usually give them away.
11. Put the jars in your pressure canner and process according to the directions that came with your canner. For me that 10 pounds of pressure for 55 minutes for pints and 85 minutes for quarts.
12. Once the corn is finished processing remove from pressure canner and let cool
13. Once the canned corn is cool, remove bands, check seals, wipe jars, label, and put away.

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Using Home Canned Corn

In addition to eating canned corn all by itself – just add little butter and pepper and a spoon – we also like to use it in other dishes. Canned corn can be substituted in almost any recipe that calls for frozen corn, just drain the liquid.

Here are some fabulous recipes that use canned corn.

Shredded Chicken Slow Cooker Tacos 
Creamy Corn Chowder
Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad 
Parmesan Zucchini Corn Skillet
Cheesy Bacon Corn and Pepper Bread
Roasted Cauliflower, Potato, and Corn Chowder
Easy Italian Tuna Corn Salad
Lentils Corn and Pepper Salad
Southern Shrimp and Corn Fritters
South African Sweetcorn Bread

Other Home Canned Vegetables

Corn isn’t the only vegetable that is super easy to can at home. Canning potatoes is a great way to be prepared for crazy weeknight meals or emergencies.

At the end of our spring season or the early part of our summer when the temperatures start to soar, I harvest all our carrots and spend an afternoon canning carrots. The processing time for carrots is much shorter than corn, making it go fast, which is nice.

Thanks for sharing with your friends!