Freezing Carrots

My son in law's parents are moving to our area.  It will be so nice to have them nearby.  They always have a huge garden and every year I reap the benefits with a variety of produce.  The move is coming soon, so their garden is being harvested.  Yesterday I received a big bag of freshly dug carrots.  My project for today was to freeze them for use this winter.  I wish I would have a root cellar, then I could just put them in there.  I don't, so freezing is the next best option.

Now that's a big bunch of fresh carrots.

The first thing I did was cut the tops and the root ends off.  It's kind of messy so I sat outside and accomplished this easily.  The weather cooperated, and I could just sweep off the porch when I was done.

Notice how bright and orange home grown carrots are.

I put the carrots in a bucket and took the tops to the compost pile.  I filled the bucket with water from the hose and did a cursory wash.  Then I drained them, took them inside and put them into the kitchen sink.  I rinsed them again and began peeling them.  My husband helped so it didn't take too long.  I was going to leave the peel on, but decided not to just in case some dirt remained on the carrot.

Then I we cut them up and blanched them in the same manner as the turnips I did earlier.  We used the Genius food chopper for this project too.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/08/freezing-turnips.html

We got two 8 cup measuring cups and 1/2 plastic container.

After blanching the carrots and cooling in ice water, they were put in food saver bags.  I put two cups per bag and ended up with a dozen bags.  It will be so nice to have the work all done when I want to make a recipe that calls for chopped carrots.  In fact, I'm trying them in a recipe tonight to see how they work out.

12 bags of chopped carrots ready for the freezer.

We also got several squash.  That is my next project.  I will prepare the squash and also freeze a few bags for later.   I really appreciate receiving this good food.