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DRYING CORN
Select good ears of sweet corn, husk, take off silk carefully, but do not wash; shave with a sharp knife, not too close to the cob, into a large tin pan or wooden bowl, scrape cob to get all the milk of corn; when about three quarts are cut off, line a large dripping-pan with flour-sack paper, being careful to have sides and edges covered, pour in corn, spread, and put at once in moderate oven; stir frequently, and leave in oven fifteen or twenty minutes. Set a table out in the sun, cover with a cloth, pour the corn upon it, and spread out evenly and thinly. Before sunset bring the corn in and spread on a table in the house; in the morning, heat again in oven, and spread in sun as before. If directions are closely followed, the corn will be thoroughly dried on the evening of the second day, and when shaken will rattle; store in paper bag as soon as cooled. Prepare in small quantities, because it must not stand long after being shaven, but should at once go into oven to heat. When all is dried, put in oven for final heating; place to cool, pour into the bag, tie closely, and hang in a cool, dry, dark place.
A two-day sun-drying method from the era before home canning was routine. The oven passes are the part that matters most: they set the corn's milk and stop enzyme activity, which is what modern instructions accomplish with a blanch.
- "Moderate oven" here is not 350FFor the drying passes, use the lowest setting your oven will hold, 140-170F, with the door propped ajar so moisture escapes. A modern oven at a true moderate heat is more likely to toast the kernels than dry them; the original's brief 15-20 minute passes were meant to set the milk and start the drying, not to finish it.
- A dehydrator does the whole jobBlanch the cut kernels 2-3 minutes in boiling water or steam, drain well, then dry at 125-135F for 6-12 hours until brittle. This replaces both the oven passes and the sun entirely, and is the reliable route in a humid climate.
- Flour-sack paperMost likely the plain, heavy, unwaxed paper used for flour sacking; the recipe does not describe it. Parchment on a rimmed sheet pan is the practical equivalent; do not use waxed paper at any temperature above warm.
- Quantities and yieldThree quarts of cut kernels is roughly 16 to 24 good ears. Corn loses about three-quarters of its weight in drying, so expect somewhere around a pint and a half of dried kernels from that batch.
- Sun drying has conditionsIt needs several consecutive days above about 85F with low humidity and no dew reaching the trays. Cover with cheesecloth stretched clear of the corn, not resting on it, to keep insects off, and raise the trays for airflow underneath.
- Testing for dryThe rattle test in the original is sound: kernels should be hard, shrunken and translucent, and should shatter rather than dent when struck. Any leathery or pliable kernel means moisture remains and the batch will mould in storage.
- Store it better than a paper bagCool completely, then pack loosely in a jar and shake it daily for a week -- if condensation appears, the corn needs more drying. Then seal airtight. Sun-dried produce is usually pasteurised first, 30 minutes in a 160F oven, to kill insect eggs; the recipe's "final heating" is the same idea, less precisely aimed.
- Using itCover with water and soak several hours or overnight, then simmer until tender, 45 minutes or more, and finish with butter, cream and salt. Dried sweet corn tastes nothing like frozen -- it is nuttier and slightly caramelised, closer to a grain.
Drying was one way to carry summer corn into winter before home canning glass and reliable jar seals were widespread, and Buckeye Cookery (first published in Ohio in 1877) treats it as ordinary kitchen work rather than a novelty. The technique of parching corn on a heat source and finishing it in the sun is generally traced to Native American practice, from which colonial and later settler households are often said to have taken it up. It survived commercially in Pennsylvania Dutch country, where oven-toasted dried sweet corn is still sold as a regional specialty.