First of all, I wouldn't buy GMO corn deliberately, though any of us could buy it without knowing it was GMO corn. (The only way to buy corn you know is not GMO is to buy organic corn or to buy an heirloom variety.)

Secondly, if I was going to take the time and trouble to buy corn in order to preserve it, I'd blanch it properly because blanched corn maintains its quality and flavor longer after being frozen.

There are enzymes in all foods that continue certain processes even after you have harvested the crop. Blanching prevents those enzymes from doing their job, which is a good thing. For example, blanching inactivates enzymes that otherwise would cause the crop to continue to ripen, making it turn overripe and (in the case of some veggies) mushy.

With corn, there is an enzyme that causes the sugar in corn to convert to starch after the corn is harvested from the plant. Blanching inactivates those enzymes. Freezing does not. So, if you freeze sweet corn without blanching it, during the time that the corn is in the freezer, the sugars continue to convert from sugar to starch and, as Dorothy found with her experiment, the flavor of the corn suffers.

I cannot say with certainty that GMO corn (or any other GMO crop) is dangerous, but I have read enough about some odd incidents involving GMO corn that I do not want to eat it. You can google and find tons of argument on whether GMO corn is safe or not.

Dawn

Thanks you guys, im not buying the obsession corn, everything ive read says its GMO and i dont want to knowingly eat anything GMO.

I will get my corn from Bixby like always and this year i will blanch it and see if i can tell the difference.

How long do i blanch? Just 2 or 3 minutes in boiling water, dry it and then straight to the seal a meal and the freezer?

Edit : apparently i have been eating GMO corn from Bixby for a while now? If i am reading the attached study correctly i have. I think they should have to declare any food that is GMO as being GMO!!! I guess i wont be having any corn this summer, and this just makes me even more determined to have my own proper garden next year.
Emma

Here is a link that might be useful: Osu study

This post was edited by Erod1 on Mon, Jul 15, 13 at 19:57

When you do finally get corn, the freezing process is as follows: Blanch 6-8 min in boiling water, depending on ear size. Then immediately plunge into ice water. I freeze ice in rinsed out milk cartons with the tops cut off, and put one in each sink. When chilled completely drain in a colander and pack into gallon freezer bags. This is for whole ears. For cut corn blanch 4-5 min, chill as before, drain and cut kernels off. Pack in pint bags for 2-4 people, quarts for more.

You're welcome.

To blanch corn on the cob, the timing you use varies with the size of the ears. See the attached link for the amount of time recommended for different ear sizes.

The key to good corn blanching is to cool the corn quickly after it is blanched. If it takes too long to cool down, the corn will have a strong cobby taste when you eat it. I cool it quickly by having a stockpot full of ice water with lots and lots of ice ready and waiting when the corn is through blanching. I remove the corn from the boiling water and drop it into the ice-cold water to cool it down quickly. After it is cool, I remove it from the stockpot of cold water and drain it in a colander. Then I bag it, seal it and put it in the deep freeze.

There is no law in the USA (although many such laws exist in other nations) requiring foods containing GMOs to be labeled as such. At the risk of repeating myself, you can only be sure you are not eating GMO food if you only buy certified organic corn or raise your own, or know an honest market gardener who will tell you what variety they raise and whether it is or isn't a GMO variety.

Consumer groups and organic farming groups have tried and tried and tried, with no success, to get GMO labeling laws passed in the USA. Why? Because Big Ag fights these laws and Big Ag has very deep pockets. Most organic groups feel like Big Ag fights these laws because they believe if the consumers in the USA saw "Contains GMOs" on the labels, they wouldn't buy the products. That likely is a fair assessment.

If you eat taco shells, corn chips, any processed food product that contains anything made from corn, including corn oil or HFCS (including, of course, soda pop), cereal made from corn, etc., and they are not labeled as organically grown, then you are eating GMO corn all the time anyhow. If you are eating corn-fed beef, pork or chicken that is not labeled organic, it likely was fed GMO corn feed. If you buy conventionally-raised eggs, they likely were fed poultry feed containing GMO corn. Mind boggling, isn't it? I know a lot of people who go out of their way to buy organic corn-on-the-cob, for example, but eat and drink processed food products that contain processed corn products that likely are from GMO corn, every single day. I think that it is easy to just "forget" about GMO corn being in processed food that contain ingredients derived from corn. You have to go out of your way and work really, really hard, particularly when buying food and beverages, to find organic products that contain no GMO ingredients. You just have to decide for yourself how important it is to you to avoid GMO corn. I try to avoid it to some extent, but everything I buy at the store is not organic. I wish it was, but organic food is pretty pricey. It is getting easier to find organic food in regular stores, and I shop at lot at CostCo (which means driving 80 miles one-way to shop there) because it carries a huge amount of organic products.

I feel like they should have to prove GMO food is safe before they can sell it, but that really isn't how it works in this country.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP: Freezing Corn

I meant to add that there are so many varieties of extra-sweet, supersweet, triplesweet corn, etc., any more that you have a wide range to choose from if you grow your own and you certainly don't have to grow a GMO type. I don't even know of any GMO corn seed that is being marketed to home gardeners. You'd have to go out of your way, most likely, to buy a GMO variety in a small quantity for a home gardener, if you even wanted to grow it to begin with.

To me, all the super-, extra- and triple- sweet varieties taste more or less the same if grown properly and harvested at the correct time. In other words, one is about as good as another.

If you prefer true corn flavor that has not been bred to be extra sweet and which has old-fashioned corn flavor, you would want to grow heirloom corn varieties or old hybrids that were bred before they started breeding all the se and sh types. Or, for true corn flavor, you could grow field corn, which the old guys around me who still have gardens often refer to as "roasting ears" because roasting them is their favorite way to prepare them.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange and Victory Seeds all carry a lot of great old varieties. My family is really partial to Country Gentleman, which is a shoepeg corn, and to Texas Honey June, and also Silver Queen.

Dawn

Obsession is not a GMO. Obsession II is a GMO.