Carrots and more carrots!

I spent all weekend scrubbing, slicing, blanching, and freezing carrots.  I even pickled a couple of pints.  I know I will be sad when they are all gone, but for now, I am glad that I am done with them.

I used this recipe from Gourmet for the dilled carrots.  I had just pulled some garlic, so I was able to use our fresh dill, garlic, and carrots (all from the garden) for this recipe.  I used all the baby carrots I pulled to pickle.  They look really cute in the jars.  Besides the dill seed, I added 3-4 dill pieces to each jar as well.  This time, I also added a little red pepper flake.

Pickled Carrot Sticks
(Gourmet Cookbook, The.  Ed. Ruth Reichl.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin, 2004.  p 909-910)

1 pound carrots
1 3/4 c. water
1 c. cider vinegar
1/4 c. sugar
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 1/2 T. dill seed
1 1/2 T. salt

Blanch carrots in a 4-quart saucepan of boiling well-salted water for 1 minute; drain ina colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.  Transfer to a heatproof bowl.

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill seed, and salt in same saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.  Pour mixture over carrots.  cool carrots, uncovered, then refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 day to allow flavors to develop. 

Note:  The carrots keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 1 month.

Carrot