Pickled Carrots 

Pickling: yes you can do it at home with things already in your pantry! 

Not only is this a great way of lengthening the freshness of vegetables like carrots and cucumber, but it can also give flavor and spark to whatever food the pickles are added to.   

This recipe is a little labor intensive, but I say the results are worth it. The biggest trick is to be carful with the hot pickling liquid. It will smell strong, so I recommend preparing this recipe on a day where the windows can be left open for a little bit. The carrots may not taste great immediately after they cool, but have no fear: after about 24 hours they will turn into the tastiest things ever. Maybe a slight exaggeration there, but I found them to be very very good. They make great additions and enhance the taste of salads, main dishes, soups, sandwiches. They can even be eaten straight from the container. 

Once pickled, the carrots can stay in the fridge at least a month without going bad. I just finished off the batch I made 3 weeks ago and they were still as crisp and flavorful as they were the day after I made them.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch carrots (about 5 medium carrots)
• 2/3 cup Apple cider vinegar 
• 1 Cup water
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 Tablespoons honey 
• 2 teaspoons minced dill or basle 
• 1 Large or two small garlic cloves minced  

Method:

1—Wash carrots and separate form stems. Save stems for adding to salads or to make veggie broth. 

2—Cut carrots into 3 inch long by 1/2 wide slivers

3—Blanch carrots by carefully placing them in boiling water for one minutes then draining in a colander under cold water. This step is optional, but I found the benched carrots had a better texture. They felt a little crisper and easier to eat. 

4—Bring the next 4 ingredients to a boil, then bring down and simmer for 2 minutes.

5—Place carrots a large jar/tall/large food container and poor the pickling mixture over them. 

Careful of the steam! I you get a face full of it it will not be pleasant thanks to the vinegar.

6—Let the carrots and the liquid sit until it becomes cool. Then place in the refrigerator for at least a day to let the sharpness of the vinegar to weaken and the sweetness develop. 

Now you can add them to whatever you want, or eat them straight! 

Enjoy!

Photo and recipe by Kate Mitchell