The Great Carrot Caper

Thanks to Kris and a generous farmer we are in the midst of processing and distributing carrots to food pantries, friends, and others. What do you do with a literal ton of carrots? Six of us from our Free School harvested a ton in less than 2 hours. Many of the carrots were over one pound and several weighed in at close to three pounds.

The first thing we did is eat them raw. They’re deliciously sweet. We had a good laugh when one of the students opened his lunch box out in the field full of carrots to discover his mom had packed him....... carrot sticks.
When we got home Mitch helped me (John) use our rain water collecting bin and barrel two wash the carrots. We managed to get about 800 pounds washed.

We then cooked up a batch for an early thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday. Talk about fresh. Six hours from field to fork.

Next day we started out with a delicious glass of sweet carrot juice fresh from our juicer. That fortified me enough to “plow” through internet research on storing and preserving carrots. Meanwhile, Mary got busy dehydrating, canning, cooking, and pickling carrots.
Did you know that if you store them with apples and other fruits your carrots will turn bitter in a matter of weeks from the ethylene the fruit gives off? Ever get a batch of bitter carrots in the store? Improper storage with fruits could be the reason. Or they used forklifts run by propane, which also give of ethylene.

Our research shows that you should keep carrots at just above freezing and with a humidity of about 95%. In these conditions they can keep for four to six months. We and others in our community who took hundreds of pounds are all going to try different storage and preserving methods. We await the reports.