Is there anything more tragic than a floppy carrot?
Love Food Hate Waste’s Food Storage guide comes to the rescue!
I learned that a limp carrot can be revived! (Give ’em an ice-bath! And if it doesn’t work, chuck ’em in soup.)
I bought a huge bag of local carrots from John and Michelle Beks so my next mission was to make sure they didn’t lose their vigour, before I ate them. (They’re so yummy that I won’t need to store them that long… but if I wanted to stockpile an entire winter’s supplies, I’d go straight to the farmer and ask for advice on root house or cellaring some carrots.)
When we’re smart about how we store food, we can support local, buy in bulk, be less reliant on the industrial food complex and it’s constant stream of trucks and planes keeping us supplied, be more resilient in the event of an emergency or natural hazard event (most grocery stores turn over their stock every 3 days, so what happens if we get cut off for more than 72 hours?) AND we’ll waste less.
Here’s what I learned about carrots:
Optimal Storage
- Do not wash until ready to use.
- Store in a breathable bag in the high humidity drawer or submerged in water on a shelf of the refrigerator.
- Store cut carrots in water in the refrigerator.
- Separate green leafy tops, if present, from the roots, leaving 2.5 cm of stem on the carrots (otherwise, the tops will draw moisture away from the carrots).
- The green tops can be stored in a breathable bag in the high-humidity drawer
Freezing
- Remove tops, wash, blanch, cool, chop or purée, and pack into an airtight container.
- Raw carrots can also be shredded and frozen in zip-top freezer bags and used for baking.
Root to Fruit
- Carrots do not need to be peeled, just washed carefully; however, peeling does remove some bitterness.
- The green tops can used like fresh herbs to add color and flavor to dishes.
- Carrot tops are great additions to soups and stews, or even floral arrangements.
- Dehydrate carrot peels for crunchy and colourful veggie chips.
Revival
- Bruised, browning, or damaged carrots can be salvaged by peeling away the external layers and removing the damaged pieces with a paring knife.
- The whitish coloring that appears on cut carrots is simply dehydration.
- Revive limp carrots by placing them in an ice bath in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Limp carrots can be used in soups and stews and stocks.
Perfect timing! I am working on a post about “what we made from our last garden haul of the year”…but it’s taken me so long to use the carrots, they’re wimpy. Thanks for the tips!
i store them in moist sand in a bucket in the basement. peat moss works too! spritz with water once a week.
haha! ninja status is imminent! thank you Nancy!