My parents went to Brentwood this past weekend and bought a box of corn. Then they left it in my fridge with a note: “We left some corn in the fridge for you.” Apparently my parents’ idea of “some” corn is 50-60 ears. I think the average person would call that “a boatload of corn,” but my parents are nowhere near average.

Brentwood is the corn capital of Northern California and, according to our local paper, its corn may even be the gold standard for the entire western United States. The corn that my parents bought was so sweet and tender that I could have eaten it straight off the cob without even cooking it. Even I can’t go through *that* much corn, though, so it was time to figure out a way to store it for later use.

The whole process of freezing corn is pretty simple. From start to finish, it took my mom and me less than an hour, which is not bad given how many ears we were working with!

Have more corn than you know what to do with? Here’s how to preserve it:

Fill a *large* pot 3/4 full with water. The bigger, the better. Bring the water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with cold water. Set aside.

Shuck the corn and remove all the silks.

Once the water is boiling, add several ears of corn and cook for 4 minutes. While the corn is cooking, add a bunch of ice to the bowl of cold water. Immediately transfer the cooked corn to the ice bath until chilled. Remove from the ice bath and set aside. Repeat the boiling and ice bath procedures until all your corn is blanched.

The secret to getting the corn off the cob is to use an angel food cake or Bundt cake pan. Place the tip of the corn in the hole in the pan and use a serrated knife to cut the corn off the cobs. The corn won’t slip and the kernels will fall into the pan! After you’ve removed the kernels from the cob, scrape the cobs using the back of a butter knife. The juices that come out are liquid gold. You may eat the corn as it is, but I recommend you tread with caution. Once you try some, you’ll want to eat it all. Refrain from eating all the corn immediately so that you can have some later.

Place the corn in freezer bags and freeze. When ready to use, simply thaw the corn and add it to your recipe. Or, if you want additional flavor, roast the thawed corn in a skillet on the stove over medium-high heat until it starts to brown before adding it to the recipe.