end of season harvest

Between our CSA and my overall love of the farmers market, we have had bounties of veggies in our house this summer. If you haven't indulged as much as you were hoping, there is still a few weeks and if you have a little time, you can enjoy them all winter long.

The other day my mom brought me 40, yes 40 ears of sweet corn that my dad had picked that morning from one of his fields. Now, sweet corn is better if eaten within 12-24 hours of picking and I wanted to enjoy all of it at its peak, so I did the next best thing. Freeze it.

Start by boiling salted water in a huge pot and add in some ears.

Keep an eye on it, you are just blanching for 2-3 minutes, enough where the yellow gets more intense, like the ear on the right.

Dump the ears in a ice bath so they do not continue cooking .

When cooled, cut off the kernels with a sharp knife. I use the bundt pan method. Just stick an ear in the hole and when you cut, all the kernels fall into the pan and not all over your counter. Be careful not to keep hitting your knife on the way down though...it will trash your blade. If you like cream corn, when you have taken all the kernels off, use the back of the knife to scrape all the juices and add it to your mix. When all your ears are scraped, zip up in a freezer bag for later.

Now, how about those tomatoes. On my last trip to the farmers marker, a vendor saw me eyeing his fruit when he handed me a red juicy one and said, go ahead, take a bite. After giving him a 'are you serious look' I did and it was out of sight. Juicy, meaty....I bought 2 lbs.

These are even easier to freeze. Take a big zip bag and just squish them, seeds, juice, skin and all in the bag (removing the stem of course) You can also, just throw in the entire whole tomato. I have been told that when you are ready to use them, the frozen skin peels right off. Perfect for chili, soup or sauce.

So grab these summer gems while you can. You'll be grateful you did come January.