Canning Corn {How to Can Corn}

Step 1

Wash and clean your jars. Make sure they are preheated enough to not crack when placed in hot water.

Step 2

Wash your lids with hot soapy water. Rinse and place them in a clean bowl.

Step 3

Husk the corn, remove the corn silk, and rinse with cool water.

Step 4

Boil the ears whole for 3 minutes, and then transfer to an ice bath. Allow to cool and then remove the kernels. When you cut, don't cut deeper than 3/4th of the kernel and do not scrape the cob.

Step 5

If you are hot packing, cook kernels in 1 cup of boiling water (per quart), reducing heat and simmering for 5 minutes. If you are doing a raw pack, allow 8 (ish) cups of water to come to a boil in a pot or kettle.

Step 6

Add 3 quarts of water to the pressure canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner.

Step 7

If you are using salt, add 1/2 tsp canning salt to pints and 1 tsp to quarts. Add the corn to the jars without shaking or pressing down the kernels.

Step 8

Use a canning funnel and carefully and slowly add the boiling water from the kettle/pot, leaving 1-inch of headspace. Headspace is the distance between the top of the food and the top of the jar.

Step 9

Using a long utensil (I prefer a plastic chopstick), remove all the air bubbles from the jar.

Step 10

Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag.

Step 11

Place a clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten to fingertip tight.

Step 12

Using canning tongs, gently place the jars in the canner.

Step 13

Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe. Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator on top.

Step 14

Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up. Under 2,000 feet of elevation, hot or raw packed corn need to be pressure canned at 11 pounds of pressure for 55 minutes for pints and 85 minutes for quarts. See chart in the post for adjusted elevation processing times.

Step 15

When the dial gauge reaches 11 pounds of pressure, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at 11 or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time. You’ll likely need to adjust the temp on the burner a few times depending on your stove.

Step 16

When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid (Pro tip: I always use oven mitts when I take the lid off because the steam is super hot).

Step 17

Let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner and then lift them out with canning tongs.

Step 18

Remove with canning tongs and place on a thick towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

Step 19

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.