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Carrots are delicious, nutritious and full of vitamin A. They make for a great snack in between meals and are an excellent ingredient for a whole host of dishes. But when you’ve bought or harvested more carrots than you can use, you may be wondering how to best store them. While keeping carrots in a pantry can make them last for at least a month, there’s an even better option: freezing them. This will help keep them fresh for up to one year. Frozen carrots can still produce enzymes that reduce flavour, so we’ll show you how to get it just right.
Before you get started, here’s what you’ll need:
- Fresh carrots.
- Chopping board.
- Knife.
- Pot.
- Water.
- Freezer-safe bag or container.
Now, let’s get prepping.
- Cut off the greens at the top of the carrots.
- Then wash the vegetables in cold water. Make sure you remove all of the soil by scrubbing them lightly.
- Place your washed carrots on the chopping board and cut them into halves or smaller chunks. The way you cut up your carrots is up to you. They can also be frozen whole, however are more difficult to blanch this way.
Blanching is when you briefly boil food in water. It’s not exactly the same as boiling because vegetables aren’t fully cooked in the process. In other words, they are part-boiled.
This process will stop the enzymes from continuing to be active and keep your carrots fresh for longer.
- Fill a large enough pot with water and bring it to a boil.
- Add your carrot chunks or slices.
- Allow them to be blanched for around two to three minutes. Whole carrots may need a little longer. Aim for five minutes here.
- Then turn off the stove, drain the water and sieve the carrots into a cold water bath. You can also prepare an ice bath for this.
You could use a steamer to part-boil the carrots instead. This will ensure that even more of their flavor is kept.
After you’ve part-boiled and strained the carrots. Allow them to cool a little longer before you freeze them. The cold water or ice bath will bring down the temperature of the carrots quickly, but they may still be slightly too warm to be frozen. Wait a little longer.
When they’ve fully cooled down, add the carrots to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. Bags are a great way to save space in a freezer. You can also portion them out into individual bags. Boiled and frozen carrots will last around one year. Wow you can enjoy your carrots for longer.
Did you know you can freeze celery? Make sure you sign up to Ask Team Clean to receive many other helpful hints, tips and tricks to store food.