Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1873 — Drying Sweet Corn. [ARTICLE]

Drying Sweet Corn.

There are various ways of doing this, and, of course, woman-like, we think our way is the best. We have tried both ways—of cutting it from the cob and drying it in the sun without scalding, and of first scalding it a few minutes and then cutting it as closely as is possible without shaving the cob—and can safely assert that, the latter method is far superior. So tliis season we shall put on the biggest kettle that will fit the stove, and fill Hup with ears of sweet corn in the height of their sweetness and juice, and letting them scald for five minutes shall then skim them out into a pan, and with a corn-cutter scrape off each ear. Then spread tiie corn upon large plates, and set them in the tin oven, back of a Stewart stove, or not having that, they could be placed in the stove oven when it is partly cooled down. When the corn has shrunk up so that the plates can be emptied into ope, it can be placed in the sun, and covered with a piece of mosquito netting, which will keep off the flies, etc., and when thoroughly dried, it can be kept (ba a paper bag and hung up in the storeroom. Then next wiiater we shall have succotash frequently, as wc shall have a plenty of dry Lima and butter beans. To’use the corn, first wash it in cold water, letting all the hulls rise to the top, and be poured off. Then turn on warm water enough to cover it, and let it soak .nil niglit in a warm place. Next day half an hour’s boiling will make it soft and tender. Soak the beans in the same manner, and turn them together when they are ready to be boiled, straining out all the water from the beans, but leaving it in the corn, as it -will be sweet and tfiilky. Add enough water to boil both corn and beans. Then turn in a large cup of rich milk, orcream, and boil fifteen minutes. Season with salt, pepper and butter. It stands to reason if the corn is flrst scalded, it retains the sugar of milk, which produces its sweetness, but if it is cut off in the green state, this dries away upon the plates. And again, it is needful to dry it rapidly at first to preserve this flavor in the corn, which would be more apt to evaporate if dried slowly in the ■sun. But we must take care not to dry it so quickly as to scorch the kernels, for then they would be ruined. Sweet corn is sometimes put down in salt. Cut oft the corn after first scalding it a few minutes; then place a layer of it in a stone jar, and scatter a thin layer of fine salt over it, and fill up the jar in this manner. Keep it in a cool place, tightly covered, and ivhen desired for use, soak it over night, first washing it in several -waters to take out the salt. Then boil it in milk and water, with or without adding the beans. A tablespoonful of sugar will improve its flavor.— Daisy Eyebright, in Country Gentleman.