Friday, April 25, 2008
The carrot is a healthy favorite for many people of all ages. It is an essential part of cooking and can even be a substitute to sugar in some recipes. This sweet, brightly colored veggie has even teethed many of our children.
Adding to value of the common carrot, is the fact it stores easy, and there for is a good choice to buy in bulk. This article is to help your carrots last to the maximum limits at the best possible quality. I have below information on selection and storage of the carrot, I hope you find it useful.
Selecting a Carrot
When selecting carrots you need to consider what you will use them for. Young carrots, especially carrots with greens still attached, tend to be sweeter. The extra sweetness will come at the cost of storage life though. Baby carrots are rarely young carrots, most often they are regular carrots cut up in to "baby" size portions. Larger carrots are often more then sufficient for your cooking and snacking needs. They also come in bulk sizes more regularly and are available year round.
Here are some tips in selecting carrots of all kinds.
Signs of a Healthy Carrot:
- well shaped
- smooth
- firm
- free of blemishes
- cracked
- moldy
- discolored or green ends
- Holes
- bristly appearance
- blistering
- darkened and water-soaked skin
- soft or flabby
Remove any green tops, the longer you store them with the leaves the more moisture and nutritional value they will loose.
Store in perforated plastic bags, and place in refrigerator. The crisper is preferred as carrots like moist cool storage to stay fresh.
Do not store neat fruit as ethylene, a gas produced by ripening fruit, will cause the carrots to become bitter.
Alternative Storage:
Canning- Canned carrots must be processed in a pressure canner.
Freezing - To Freeze Carrots they must be blanched.
Resources Links: urbanext.uiuc.edu; extension.umn.edu; ohioline.osu.edu
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