How to get the most from carrots
Try these great recipes and tips!

By Marion Owen, Fearless Weeder for PlanTea, Inc. and
Co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul

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Carrots are the world's favorite vegetable. No kidding. Carrots boast more carotene than any fruit or vegetable, and they're recipe-friendly -- adapting to a wide assortment of foods and recipes (as you'll see below). In the garden, carrots are an all-around favorite, along with tomatoes, corn, and lettuce.

But what do you do with a bumper crop of carrots? Give them away to your neighbors when they're not looking? Dry them and hang them on your Christmas tree? As with a zucchini, too many carrots can be a challenge. Here are eight ways to make the best out of a bounty of carrots:

Let's start with how to 'put carrots by'...

How to harvest and store carrots

In the refrigerator, carrots will keep for several months. Just wash, pat them dry and store them in containers or bags with some holes added. For long-term storage, hand-pull the carrots from the soil, but don't wash them. Twist or cut off the green tops. Layer undamaged roots with sand, dry soil, or a 50:50 combination of sand and (low sap) wood shavings -- like the kind used in hamster cages. Make sure the carrots aren't touching each other and keep them in a cool, dark place.

Invest in your health:
Dried and frozen carrots are like money in the bank

Dried carrots keep well and reconstitute nicely for use in breads, salads, and soups. To dry raw carrots: Slice washed, tender carrots 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick or coarsely shred or grate them. Toss with some lemon juice. Arrange on dryer racks and dry until crisp.

To dry cooked carrots (which keep their color better): Select crisp, tender carrots. Trim the green tops, leaving a 1/2-inch tip. Steam until cooked through,but not mushy -- about 20 minutes, depending on size. Trim off the tails, the crowns, and the green tops. Slice 1/8-inch thick or shred. Dry until crisp. Cool and store.

Frozen carrots are one of my favorite ways to store them. Slice fresh and washed carrots into 1/4 to 1/2-inch slices. Steam them until they are still a little solid when poked with a fork. Not quite tender. Then plunge them into cold water. Store them in quart-size, zip-lock, freezer bags, squeezing out as much air as possible. Or vacuum seal them.

Bring out a bag of carrots on a cold, blustery day and steam them up. Serve as a side dish, in rice or mash and add them to a cake recipe, muffins, pancakes, etc. Their sweet flavor and bright color will cheer up your world.

Go ahead, juice 'em

The foundation for juiced recipes, carrot juice mixes well with many fruits and can be added to soups, salad dressings, and muffins.

Create a designer necklace from carrot beads. It's fun!

Nordstroms and Saks Fifth Avenue may never carry these 14-karat beauties, but here's your chance to make a vegetable fashion statement. Wash a few carrots and cut them into 1/4-inch round slices. Thread a heavy duty needle with dental floss and slip the slices onto the floss by pushing the needle through the core. Once you've strung enough carrots, tie the ends together to form a necklace. Lay it on paper in a dark, well-ventilated place, making sure the slices don't touch each other. As they dry, they turn into wrinkled beads. Drying takes a couple weeks.

Go beyond carrot cake with these recipes

I heard that Will Rogers once said, "Some guy invented Vitamin A out of a carrot. I'll bet he can't invent a good meal out of one." If Will had only sampled some of the following recipes! Since carrots pack such a healthy dose of goodness and fuse with so many different recipes, their highest calling might be as nutritional undercover agents. What a great -- and sneaky -- way to get more healthy food into your diet. If YOU have a favorite (and unusual) carrot recipe, please let me know (marion@ptialaska.net).

Carrot Marmalade

This marmalade is adapted from an Alaskan homestead recipe.
6 medium-sized carrots
2 lemons
2 large oranges (preferably Valencias or another tasty variety)
11 cups water
8 cups sugar
Scrub lemons and oranges well and cut them into quarters. Remove any seeds. Soak the fruit chunks in the 11 cups of water for 24 hours. Remove the fruit and cut into very small shreds. Wash, peel, and grate carrots. Add fruit and shredded carrots to the water in which the lemons and oranges were soaked. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Add the sugar and boil the marmalade until the juice reaches the jelly stage (8 degrees above the boiling point of water -- 212 degrees at sea level --for your area). Pour into hot, sterile jelly glasses. Fill to within 1/8-inch of the top. Screw on the tops, then invert the jars for about 5 seconds to seal completely.

Carrot Orange Hummus

Hummus is the Swiss Army Knife of spreads and dips. Smear it on toast and bagels in place of butter, put a dollop on steamed vegetables or potatoes, or spread it on broiled salmon. To jazz up salads, add a couple tablespoons to your favorite oil and vinegar-based dressing.
5 large carrots
2 cans (15 oz each) garbanzo beans, drained
2/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
3 cloves garlic, squashed
1/2 cup orange juice
2 TBL cider vinegar
1 TBL soy sauce
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
3 green onions (white and green tops)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp grated orange rind (optional)
Chop carrots into cubes and steam or microwave them until until they mash easily. Drain and add to a food processor with the remaining ingredients. Whirl until smooth. Store in the fridge or put in smaller containers and freeze.

Carrot Spice Pancakes

Carrot Milkshake

The Best Pickled Carrots