Often I find myself wondering how something so simple can be so delicious? That very question was running through my mind as I was putting up another waste-not-want-not recipe.
Several weeks ago I stopped by the farm to pick up my yearly bounty of sweet corn. Typically, I freeze the kernels and the cobs are cooked down and transformed into a sweet, honey-like jelly; this year, however, I wanted to do something a little different! Yes, corn was still frozen and cobs were cooked, but instead of adding sugar and making jelly I jarred that savory, sunbeam-yellow liquid and canned a big ol’ batch of stock! Three gallons to be precise!
This recipe is soooo easy-peasy; you need just two simple ingredients: corn cobs and water. That’s it!
Corn Cob Stock
Corn Cobs
Water
Place cobs into a large stock pot and cover with one inch of water; you may need to cut your cobs in half to get them to fit. Bring pot to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 90 minutes. Strain liquid through several layers of cheese cloth or a coffee filter. Fill sterilized pint and or quart jars, reserving 1/2″ headspace. Wipe rims, adjust two-piece lids to fingertip-tight and process at 10 pounds in a pressure canner for 20 minutes. Place jars on a wire rack and allow to cool, undisturbed, for 12-24 hours so seals may properly set.
Corn cob stock must be pressure canned to ensure safe shelf-stability. If you do not own a pressure canner you can freeze it, just be sure to allow enough headspace so your jars do not break as the liquid freezes and expands!
I probably used anywhere from 24-30 cobs to make my stock, but I also had two large stock pots reducing at once! I knew this was going to be delicious so a double batch was definitely in order!
Images and content copyright © 2012 Danielle R Limoge.
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