The Craftiest Workshop

I had Apple Week back in September where every day I was processing apples. This past week was Carrot Week. We got a five gallon pail of freshly pulled carrots from my brother in-law’s mother in-law (I know, you have to think a minute) when we saw them for Thanksgiving dinner. The carrots were just out of the ground so still they had some dirt on them and needing washing. I left the pail in the garage until I was ready to use them as the temperature in there was about refrigerator temperature anyhow. I also pulled the last of our garden carrots as the day time temperatures are getting to just above freezing now.

I spent a couple hours each morning this week cleaning and sorting carrots by size. I decided that the very long or very fat carrots would get sliced to be blanched and frozen as side dish carrots. The medium sized carrots would stay in the fridge, at least for the next while, as fresh eating carrots, as that is the size that Chris likes best. Some of them will also be cut into spears for pickling. The smaller carrots, about finger size, will also get blanched and frozen for roasting or stir fry’s. The tiny carrots, only bite size, may get put in the food processor and shredded for baking.

I started with slicing carrots, blanching them for 2 min, putting them in ice water and then scooping them onto a tea towel lined baking sheet. I dried them as much as I could then dumped the towel onto the baking sheet. After freezing overnight, it was easy enough to use a spatula to remove them from the trays and put into a large ziplock.

Next, I worked on the finger sized carrots.

I took photos of the blanching process this time in case anyone hasn’t done it before. Bring salted water to a boil. I use a metal strainer with a handle and just put the carrots into the water in the strainer so it is easier to remove the carrots. I blanched this size for 4 minutes.

I have a large bowl with water and ice ready for the carrots to be dumped into.

The carrots were then spooned out with a slotted spoon and laid on a tea towel on a baking sheet.

Dump the carrots from the towel onto the tray and space them out so they aren’t really touching.

After freezing them, at least two hours, remove from the tray with a spatula and place in a large air tight bag. Freezing them this way allows you to remove only what you need from the bag.

Now it is just about finding the right recipes to use to use up the carrots. There are carrot muffins and loaves, glazed carrots and carrot soup. Chris keeps asking for carrot soup so I think that I will make this recipe soon and try some coconut cream in it instead of whipping cream. It was from a fall Taste of Home mini magazine from years ago.

Having extra produce really does keep me busy, first preserving and then cooking or baking with it down the road. I wouldn’t have it any other way and am grateful for what we get from our garden and for what others have given to us.