My experiment with multiplying (potato) onions was a resounding success. The picture does not do just to just how prolific the harvest was from one small bag. There were not as many small ones as I expected so I’ll have to keep out some larger if I want enough to plant this fall. The shallots did well too and I even found a clove of garlic I had missed. It threw off a 1/2 dozen full cloves of lovely heads. Just in time too as my harvest from last year is gone and this year’s is not quite ready to pull. As soon as the potato onions have cured I’ll pull the rest of the onions and set them out for the same treatment. The greenhouse is perfect for this and I don’t have to worry about rain. Not that rain has been a concern for curing anyway but a girl can hope.
I have to show off my cabbage. I wish I knew what made some years so good and others so poor for a given crop. This year my brassicas all look like blue-ribbon winners at the state fair. I put up a picture of my grapes too. They are still a miracle to me.
I’m throwing out a question for you all. My carrots are ready to pull. They are simply lovely with a rich sweet flavor. This may be the best crop ever and I’m planning to plant a fall keeping crop this week. But what to do with my carrots? I can can some but we don’t love canned carrots. I’ll pickle a couple of batches too and some will go in kimchi. I do dry a load and I’ll make some carrot cake but I’m running out of carrot recipes. Any ideas for something fabulous??? I suppose I’ll end up making bread and freezing that but it feels like I’m missing something.
July 17, 2012 at 9:45 am
Hi Kathy,
I love the carrot and dill soup recipe in The New Basics Cookbook. Could you can that or another soup?
July 17, 2012 at 10:08 am
I saute sliced or chopped carrots a bit and put them in portioned containers in the freezer to throw into soups later on.
July 17, 2012 at 10:37 am
I know you don’t like to freeze too much produce but last year I shredded and froze the carrots in 2 cup portions in the freezer. It’s been great adding them to soups and last minute muffins, to name a few.
Johanne
July 17, 2012 at 10:59 am
We don’t eat canned carrots as a side dish but I do can some to put in soups. I cut them up as I would for a soup. We also make pickled carrots. They are a big hit here.
This time of year a nice carrot salad is tasty too.
July 17, 2012 at 11:22 am
I know you mentioned pickled carrots but I made an Asian pickled carrot that goes quickly. I love snacking on them. The recipe calls for baby carrots but it can easily be done with carrot sticks, Also, try drying carrots. We cook ours in the winter in apple juice for a sweet side dish.
Asian Pickled Carrots
1 pound baby carrots
1/4 cup peeled and julienned ginger
3 whole allspice
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 whole cloves
4 whole peppercorns
in saucepan, cook carrots in small amount of boiling water for 3 minutes until crisp-tender. Drain and place in jar. Add ginger and allspice to jars. In saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Pour over carrots and process jars.
July 17, 2012 at 12:22 pm
I just put carrots in the crisper section of my fridge, in a plastic bag, and they keep for MONTHS….
Shame you’re so far away – rabbits LOVE the greens. Perhaps Courteon and Michelle could pick them up for theirs? Oh – I’ll be up thataway on Saturday to teach them about “freezer camp” – will you be home?
July 17, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Potato onions are also called bunching onions. The carrot greens feed the chickens and the pigs. Carrots do last forever but I’d need a pretty big fridge for all the roots I have. Thank you for the recipes. I’ll be around for part of the day.
July 17, 2012 at 2:14 pm
I grate and freeze carrots for soups, carrot cakes, and stews.
And I use the greens in stock. I have 6 lbs. of carrot greens in my freezer… if only it was cool enough to make stock!
July 17, 2012 at 3:26 pm
I dehydrate carrots. Love love love all the photos. Thanks, Kathy!
July 17, 2012 at 7:48 pm
If you have a cool/damp area like a basement, pack your carrots in sawdust within barrels & store them there. This doesn’t work for me in the southeast for the spring-crop carrots because it’s just too hot, but it works for fall-planted over the winter. And we eat a lot more carrots through the cooler months than over the summer anyway. Though most winters here I can leave the carrots right in the ground where they grew and pull as needed (voles & field mice help themselves to a few, but not too many).
I think we all need to continue to try to adjust our eating habits to our seasonal harvests and storage capabilities, instead of trying to save every last scrap of produce. I have shredded carrots in the chest freezer from 2-3 years back that I’ve never used. (I’ve left them there because during power outages, a full freezer stays colder longer than a half-empty one). I’ve learned to grow scads of roots & tubers in the fall, because they only store well here through the cooler months, and we eat roots & greens the back half of the year. Spring & summer, meals are all fresh-picked produce out of the gardens. I can live without carrots or greens for a few months in torrid summers – especially when I have bushels of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and beans
It feels terrible to let home-grown food go by the wayside, but if it’s more than you can store, eat, or use, why not just feed it to the pigs, count your blessings for a bountiful harvest, and call it a day?
July 17, 2012 at 8:10 pm
For decades I have stored carrots in the root cellar. This year is just different. I usually pull my carrots in October. I NEVER have big carrots in July so I’m trying to adjust. It got so warm so quickly and my soil is so good they grew like crazy. I’ll have time for another full harvest for the root cellar. In the meantime, I’ll be eating carrots every night.
July 17, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Once year I sauteed onions, celery and carrots together like I was starting to make soup and then popped that in the freezer. It made my winter soups quick easy and delicious. Also, my mother used to make a lovely pureed carrot soup. I’ll post the recipe if I can find it
July 18, 2012 at 8:12 am
Carrot Ginger Soup ala Moosewood! A favorite at our house…do you need the recipe?
July 18, 2012 at 8:29 am
My favorite curried carrot soup: Saute 1 onion in 2 tbsp butter. Add 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder. Add six carrots, 1 potato, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1 bay leaf, as well as six cups of soup stock. Simmer 45 min. Remove bay leaf and puree. Return to heat and ad 3/4 c. heavy cream.
So is your root cellar not cool enough this time of year to store carrots, even if they’re packed in wet sand? I suppose if you have an absolute bumper harvest, the local food bank or neighbors would appreciate it. Can always use those bounties to build community.
July 18, 2012 at 8:39 am
Thanks. I have that cookbook. It’s maybe 60 down there (98 up here yesterday) so not really cold enough. I’m teaching a pickle class today. It was going to be dilly beans but now it’s carrot sticks.
July 18, 2012 at 9:10 am
Speaking of bumper crops, we have never had a good crop of zucchini. Just a few then borers destroy them. This year we (and assorted other people) had zucchini for six weeks. The cucumbers lasted for nearly two months as did the yellow straight-neck squash. Tomatoes did well, started to look bad, and then started to put out new growth. The new growth is blooming now. The weather in Central Texas is hot, but only the usual heat, not the day after day 100+ of last year. Our rainfall is about normal also. We have actually had 2+ inches in July which is a real rarity. We have okra doing well, and our second crop of black-eyed peas are blooming (the first crop barely made enough to pay for seed, water and care). We are getting the ground ready for the fall crops which get planted in late August and early September.
July 18, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Oh, Kathy! I’m practically a local to you…only about an hour south. We’re dying here too. 98 yesterday and so humid today that I was up at 6am to do the day’s cooking. Maybe you can make the soup at midnight and freeze it.
July 18, 2012 at 2:04 pm
This salad http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/the-rainbow-rooms-carrot-and-peanut-salad-219/ is one that tastes much better than you’d expect from the list of ingredients.
Maybe too hot for baking still where you are, but I do remember reading an old recipe for carrot and sultana flan, to be eaten as a dessert.
Also, carrot jam. Not quite as mad as it sounds! http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/02/vegetable-jam-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall
I haven’t made this particular recipe, but I have made a similar jam with dried apricots (the carrots stretch the pricey apricots and take on the other flavours in the jam- they were virtually undetectable) which was very nice.,
This chutney is absolutely delicious http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.php?t=27762&start=0
And finally, this carrot dip (don’t be put off by the title- Moroccan boiled carrot salad! It’s a salad in the Middle Eastern sense) https://vintagecookbooktrials.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/boiled-carrot-salad/
is positively addictive! Love it.
Hope they help with the carrot mountain!
July 18, 2012 at 2:28 pm
You kind-of answered my question but I was wondering, would you plant another crop of carrots? My carrots are ready too so I was considering pickling them (YUM) and then growing another crop to try and over=winter in the ground. What do you think? Also, what would you plant after garlic is harvested? My garden is suddenly looking bare!
Thank you so much for your blog and book,
Jessica.
July 19, 2012 at 1:12 am
I’m in a different zone to you, (Pacific Northwest) and at the moment, whenever I harvest something I am planting more carrots. I figure we eat a ton of carrots so every one that makes it will be welcome.
July 19, 2012 at 5:29 am
My storage carrots are going in the ground this week. I have had mixed results with ground storage. Some of those recipes sound fabulous. Thankyou!
July 20, 2012 at 6:27 am
I’ve used canned carrots for carrot pie. Carrots work great as a substitute for sweet potatoes or pumpkin in any recipe.
July 20, 2012 at 7:14 am
Na Na,
Intriguing idea…..does that mean you can them pureed like pumpkin? Would you PC them for the same length of time as pumpkin?
July 20, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Nothing tastes better than roasted carrots! 425 degree oven. drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for about 25 minutes. We also love to munch on them raw. Here in south Texas (Houston area), I grow my carrots over the winter in raised beds. I can leave them in the ground until I need them (having finished harvesting them by February).
July 31, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Sorry I didn’t answer sooner thriftymomma, my computer died at the most unfortunate time. Kathi, I hope it’s not too late to answer the question.
Can, dry, or freeze carrots as normal but use the carrots as a substitute for pumpkin in a recipe. Carrots are good as a substitute for sweet potatoes too.