Freezing Carrots

This year in preparation for winter I started freezing lots of local organic vegetables. Each time I’d go to a farmers market I would buy a little extra and pack them away in the freezer. I just harvested my last bunch of carrots last week and wanted to do a “How to” blog in case anyone out there is wondering the correct way to freeze veggies.

Step 1: Peel and cut. For carrots I like to slice some up in medallions as well as julienne some.

Step 2: Boil in water for 2 minutes. This helps get rid of any bacteria and cleanse them in preparation for freezing.

Step 3: Cold water bath. Immediately after boiling drain carrots and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process. If you let them sit and keep cooking they will be soggy (like after blanching).

Uh Oh…The Ground is Frozen

With tonight’s impending snow storm I thought today would be a good time to harvest the rest of the items in my vegetable garden that are not protected by the cold frame. I ended up with one green bell pepper, 3 lbs of carrots, a bunch of small leeks, and (hopefully) enough onions to survive the winter. Tomorrow I’m going to make some potato leek soup – YUM. I’ll probably cut up and freeze some of the carrots since I doubt we’ll eat them all before bouncing around from parent to parent’s house over the holidays. As for the onions, well first they have to dry and cure. This could take a while. Then I’ll keep them in our uninsulated  mud room which usually stays around 35 degrees F. This and keeping them in a ventilated, but dark bag should help slow the growing process and keep them through the next few months.