Drying corn

Hi Jackie, know you’re busy as a bee. We planted some Country Gentleman corn to save mostly for seed in case of emergency. Planted about 3 weeks later than our regular sweet corn, middle May. Now it’s in the milk and worms are at work. I wonder can we pull it and hang up to dry in the shucks if that would be alright to save that way.

Betty downs
Covington, Georgia

Yep, we ARE busy! But that’s normal around here. Sorry, but you can’t harvest your corn when it’s in the milk stage and dry it. It’ll not be mature enough and will go moldy. You can get rid of the worms by using a common syringe and injecting Bt and/or mineral oil into the silk tip of the corn. The corn will then go on to mature without the worms. The ears won’t be perfect due to worm damage, but you’ll be able to save plenty of seed. Just let the ears dry on the stalk then pick, shuck, and completely dry before shelling. — Jackie

Canning hamburger

I have canned several batches of hamburger over the years. I brown the burger and pack hot in pint jars fill to head space with broth and process for the “book” time. I am getting complaints that the texture is too fine and a chunkier product is desired for spaghetti and chili. Any suggestions for keeping the product coarser?

Howard Brewi
Valdez, Alaska

The way I generally process my hamburger is to lightly brown it in a little grease then pack hot into pint jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. I do not add broth. This way the granules of browned meat do not pack together and come out just like “normal” fried hamburger crumbles. Process at the same 75 minutes as any other meat. — Jackie