The Essential Carrot Recipes:
by Joe and Dennis Fisher Some day I would like to own a root cellar, an unheated room of modest proportions with a dirt floor, and enough space inside for a few barrels of potatoes and other root crops and boxes of apples that need low temperatures and high moisture to store well.
Until that time, I will settle for ordinary cellar storage. Luckily my cellar is on the cool side, so some kinds of produce will keep reasonably well if placed against the cold east wall as far as possible from the furnace.
This situation is still far from ideal, and some crops will not keep at all under such conditions. Unfortunately, these include carrots. Under less than perfect storage conditions carrots rapidly turn flabby and tough. In the root cellar, they must be stored in deep bins full of wet sand.
Luckily, there is another way to store winter carrots, which if anything works better than root cellaring. I learned this from my friend Mike Smith of Jackson, who has a small homestead and a wonderful garden. Those of you who attended our winter market last year will remember Mike's carrots- crisp as icicles, sweet as apples.
Mike knows that the best place to store carrots is in their native environment: dirt. Planted in mid-summer and allowed to fatten through the shortening days of autumn, the roots reach perfection in mid-November. By now they have been frosted several times, which brings out their sweetness. They can be pulled from the field, wiped clean, and eaten with the same relish as baby carrots. When the carrots have reached a mature, marketable size, he covers the rows with a thick layer of hay to insulate the roots from the cold and to keep the ground workable, and over this he puts hoops and plastic to keep off the snow and ice.
Treated this way, carrots will survive the worst winter weather, growing steadily sweeter as the frost enhances the natural sugars in the roots. Mike pulls aside the covering and digs the carrots just before using them. He admits that digging root vegetables in January is not his favorite job. It's cold, finger-nipping work. But the results are worth it.
This year we planted Nantes as our fall carrot crop. They are supposed to be an early carrot, but seem to grow well at any time of year, and have a better flavor than some varieties. I always soak carrot seed before planting, since this speeds up and improves germination. Carrots are very sensitive to weeds and crowding, so they need to be cultivated frequently and shallowly and thinned regularly. Many gardeners tend to sow carrots too thickly and then not thin enough, resulting in crowded, straggly plants.
Carrots like a light, sandy soil without too much nitrogen. Heavy soils and fresh manure produce hairy, forked roots. You can loosen and aerate heavy soils before planting with a garden fork.
You should make several plantings of carrots each year, though planting and harvest times are not as critical as they are with other kinds of vegetables. Beth Haines of Peacemeal Farm recommends Bolero for storage, Navaho for fresh bunching, Mokum as an early carrot, and Scarlet Nantes for summer.
Look for carrots among the many storage vegetables and other fine products and the Belfast Farmer's Market's Winter Marketplace. Don't miss our After-Thanksgiving Event, Nov. 27, featuring unique gifts, foods, holiday arrangements, and ornaments. The Winter Marketplace is open Saturdays, 10-1 in the new Belfast Agway on Route 1.
Swedish Carrot Pudding
The best way to serve carrots is simmered and then topped with butter, but they also make a succulent pudding for company.
- 1 cup raw rice
- 4 cups milk
- 1 cup water
- 3 cups grated carrot
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Boil 2 cups of milk and 1 cup water with ? cup raw rice in a double boiler, 30 minutes. Beat eggs, add sugar, almonds, extract and 2 cups milk. Beat well. Add carrots and pour into a buttered baking dish. Bake 1 ? hours at 350 degrees.