How to freeze carrots?

[sqweek01]

Hello Fellow Grapes,

I've just harvested my first carrots of the year! They're Suttons Rainbow F1 All of the others I've sown have been eaten by something before they got to being carrots

Anyway, now that I have my rainbow carrots I'd like to freeze some. How do I go about this properly?

Regards

Clare

[Florence Fennel]

Hi Clare, I wash and blanch the carrots (put small batches into water at a rolling boil for a couple of minutes[ [I use a chip basket] then lift out and put in icy cold water until they are thoroughly cold), dry them off (I lay them on a tea towel) then bag up and freeze.

[Florence Fennel]

BTW - well done! They taste like "proper" carrots, don't they?

[Alice]

Prepare the carrots as you want to use them - whole, diced, juliened or whatever.
Spread them out on a tray and put the tray in the freezer til frozen.
Tip the carrots into a freezer bag and clip closed.

To use, just use from frozen.
But frozen carrots do loose something in the translation.

[Two_Sheds]

I followed the instructions as above, but when I defrosted the carrots they were mushy and horrible.
I make them into soup now, and freeze that.

[Florence Fennel]

Using the method I described above, the carrots begin to cook, but the process is stopped by the icy water. They then only take a few minutes to steam or boil from frozen and lose nothing in the translation. I have only tried bought frozen carrots once and they are rubbery not loverly like mine.

[burnie]

If you look in CJ Berrys' wine book there's a recipe for wine,that when you've finished gives you your carrots for the freezer and a drink!

[stevemac]

Burnie

Having made carrot wine (it's actually referred to as carrot whisky! i can tell you it is a VERY nice drink but also lethal

[Snadger]

Frozen carrots are minging!

Tried them one year, but never again.

Now all I do is leave the enviromesh over mine and pick em fresh as I want them through the winter!
They normally last through until about April when they start to go 'hairy' as they start putting out new side roots!

[sqweek01]

Thanks for that, I thought it was something along those lines It's quite strange how they taste like 'normal' carrots.

I did try doing them the way Alice said but they turned out tasting 'orrible, it was the same with bell peppers too.

Carrot whisky? hmm now there's a thought! I would've left them in the ground but when I checked something had been making rather large tunnels in one of them.

Regards

Clare

[solway cropper]

I agree with snadger. There's better ways of dealing with carrots than freezing them. I always leave some in the ground to pull when the weather lets me in winter. Others I store in sand in the shed. Never tried freezing them but I bought some frozen ones from the shops and they were rubbery and tasteless.

[Bluemchen]

Peel them, and cut them in half - as for roasting. Freeze as they are and then bung straight into the roasting tray to cook from frozen. Works a treat - recommended by Good Housekeeping in one of their Christmas issues.

[OverWyreGrower]

I just peel, chop and freeze... never had any trouble with them!

But I use them as 'frozen' carrots, so don't defrost before cooking