Only certain varieties of sweet corn will have their flavor affected by a nearby field corn planting. These are the ones labeled "super-sweet," "sugar-enhanced," etc. That's why some of the advice above is incorrect -- though it would be true for "ordinary" vegetables (and non-enhanced varieties of sweet corn, for that matter). You could try timing your planting to avoid cross-pollination, but I wouldn't rely on starting indoors; direct-sown corn catches up quickly to transplanted. Or simply plant a variety of sweet corn that doesn't become starchy if cross-pollinated. Some people prefer these; their disadvantage is that the corn must be eaten very quickly after harvest, while the enhanced varieties can keep their sugar for days. Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet corn

Microwave blanching is at best, a hit or miss propostion. You can never tell how much heat the whole cob gets as microwaves are not distributing the rays evenly, even though the foods move, as well as the micrwave 'stirrer' thats at the output of the magnatron. I blanch in boiling water a couple of minutes, then cut all the kernals off the cobs, as they take up way too much freezer space. Last year, I grew over 200 cobs, and half the freezer would have been loaded with all these. Cut off the cobs, I had 4 gallon sized bags. The flavor was as fresh as can be too, as the sweetness never went back ito the cobs, like it would if it sat around a while.

The newer sugar enhanced types have been bred to produce more sugar in the kernals. Its called a 'shrunken gene'. The reason for the extra sugar was to help prevent he loss that goes back into the cobs during sort term storage. White kernals are always white, and yellow was always yellow. The bicolor came later, then the sugar enhanced types. If you plant heirloom types next to sugar enhanced or Sh varieties, the whole crop will be useless. Trust me, I made that mistake two years ago, when I mixed a few nearly empty corn seed packets together and planted several rows, 30 foot long. The end result were mostly short stalks only 3-4 feet tall, and stubby corn cobs with maybe 3-4 rows of kernals at the stem ends, and undeveloped tips. Needless to say, no matter what was done to them as to pollination, fertilizer, etc, didn't change the outcome. Since then, I have thrown out every last corn packet that has Sa or Sh in its description, and will only grow yellow corn that have been the 'gold standard' for many years. I don't care for the sugar enhanced ones anyway. They taste as if someone had added a LOT of sugar to the kernals, and that kills the natural flavors and character.

I've never done it that way, so I don't have an answer, but here is an article NCHFP Freezing Okra. It appears after blanching you would not need the egg and milk to get the cornmeal to stick. The harvest forum had many threads on okra, and there are others here on the Oklahoma forum. Alot of people "blanch" in the oven. I cooked some that way last year, breaded and baked, since I'm not much of a fry person. Here's Dawns instructions from another thread which I think answers your question: posted by: okiedawn on 07.29.2010 at 03:59 pm in Oklahoma Gardening Forum Keith, I like to oven blanch it first. TO OVEN BLANCH: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash the okra, remove the caps and bottom ends and slice crosswise into 1/2" thick slices. Lay in a single layer on cookie sheets and blanch for 5 to 10 minutes. I think 5 is fine but sometimes I leave it for a bit longer, not necessarily intentionally, but since I'm usually doing several things simultaneously as I 'put up' the harvest, I sometimes lose track of the time, esp. if I forgot to set the oven timer. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let okra pieces cool. Once cook, pack into freezer bags or plastic freezer containers, seal and label. Do not decide to nibble just one piece after it comes out of the oven, or you'll end up munching on all of it and will have nothing left to go into the freezer. Big fat okra chips are every bit as good as potato chips, esp. if you sprinkle them with salt or your favorite spice mix. [Note: It is not my fault if you consume all your newly-blanched okra in this manner.] TO BLANCH IN BOILING WATER: If you prefer to blanch in boiling water, use 1 gallon of water for every pound of okra you have to blanch. Divide pods by size into two groups--those 3" or smaller and those larger than 3" and blanch the smaller ones for 3 minutes and the larger ones for 5 minutes. After they cool, you can pack them into bags or containers whole, or can slice them into 1/2" pieces. Seal, label, freeze. You can freeze it plain and bread it after removing it from the freezer. Just bread it without thawing it, and then cook it immediately. Or, you can bread it before freezing it. TO BREAD: After using the blanching method of your choice, you can bread the okra any way you wish, using your favorite breading recipe, and then freeze it in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once the individual pieces are frozen, remove from cookie sheet and place in freezer bags or containers, label and seal. When you're ready to cook it, remove it from the freezer and allow it to thaw a tiny bit as the oil heat up, then cook as usual. When breading, you can keep it simple by just dredging it through cornmeal, or flour if you don't use cornmeal, or a combination of flour and cornmeal. You can dip the okra in milk or egg before dipping it into the breading mix....just fix it like you were going to fry it immediately. You can sprinkle it with salt and pepper if you want, or mix in salt and pepper with your breading material. FREEZE IT: At this point, some people freeze it in single layers as is on the cookie sheets, then move it to containers to place in the freezer. OR PARTIALLY FRY IT: Some people like to fry it a little bit, just until the breading shows the first hint of golden brown color, then freeze it on a cookie sheet and then place in freezer containers.