FREEZING CARROTS

We started pulling our carrots this past weekend and I have to say that it is a really great feeling to know that you can grow your own food.  Carrots are probably my second favorite vegetable to grow because they are so easy.  Other than preparing the soil by making sure it is loose to about a foot or more down, we literally just plant seeds and forget about them until the fall.  How simple is that?

This past weekend we pulled about 3.5 pounds of carrots out.  After washing and chopping them up we were left with about 3 pounds to blanch and store in the freezer.  Next weekend we will pull more, and probably the weekend after that as well.  Boy do I love having my own garden, even if it is small :-)

Here's our very simple method to freezing them for the winter:

Remove greens and hose down to remove large dirt particles.

Use a vegetable brush to clean them thoroughly. Some roots and spots may need to be cut off with a knife.

Chop the carrots up into bite sized pieces.

All carrots are now ready for blanching.

Put carrots into boiling water for exactly 3 minutes. NO LONGER. Note: the 3 lbs. was done in TWO batches because you do not want to process too much at a time.

Have a cold water bath ready for them...

After exactly 3 minutes carefully remove carrots from boiling water and immerse them in the cold water bath.

Remove from cold water bath and pat dry to remove excess water.

Fill baggies with carrots and remove as much air as possible. We use snack size baggies because it is about 1 baggie per person. We do this because we never know how much we will need and don't want to waste them!

Place the baggies into a freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. Be sure to write the date on the bag before putting it in the freezer.

Freezing carrots is that simple!

FYI - To make blanching simpler, we use the Granite Ware Blancher (affiliate link) below.  It comes with the pot, the lid, and the basket which makes it so simple to quickly remove vegetables!  Of course this is not necessary, however it does make it so much easier! 

Thank you for stopping by.  Please like and follow us on Facebook!

Check out more posts about Fresh Food Preservation!