When my grandma was little, her family kept their carrots in the cellar in a bucket of sand. I don’t really have that option so I like to preserve carrots by freezing them. Here’s the process we use:
1) Wash the carrots.
2) Peel and cut off the tops and the ends of the carrots.
3) Slice or chop the carrots into the size you’d like.
4) Blanch the carrots: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Dump in the carrots and let them cook for 3 minutes. Next you need to cool them quickly to stop them from cooking further. Strain off the hot water. And then cover them with cold/ice water. (For more detailed instructions consult the Ball Blue Book of Preserving…I use it all the time! It teaches how to can, freeze, and dry foods.)
5) Once they are cool. Drain off the water and pack them in sandwich size bags. (I put 1 cup of carrots in each baggie.) Squeeze out the air and put them in a gallon freezer bag.
6) Label and freeze.
When making a soup or a sauce that needs carrots, just thaw the amount needed! I put them in Chicken Apple Bowtie and all kinds of soups.
I also keep carrots from the garden in my vegetable drawer in the fridge. I wash them and put them in a grocery sack. They keep all winter.
Two other options are drying carrots and canning carrots. (Consult the Ball Blue Book for instructions.)
The featured image in this post came from pixabay.com
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