When did you last taste a carrot so sugar-sweet and carroty it seemed almost another vegetable? When was the last time you pulled a fat round carrot from the earth no bigger than the tip of your thumb? How about biting into a carrot so richly orange it was almost scarlet? And when did you munch on a single carrot that gave you more vitamin A than the recommended minimum daily allowance?
The problem with carrots raised for mass marketing is that they’re selected for one quality: the ability to be pulled and processed by a machine without breaking. By and large, they’re Imperator types-handsome, extra-strong roots. But flavor is not on their resume.
The royalty of carrotdom are crisp, rich orange Nantes types, long and straight with squarish tips, no core and glorious flavor. Developed in the 19th Century in a corner of France at the confluence of three rivers, Nantes are the carrots in French markets today. In this country, Nantes are considered too fragile for machine harvesting, so to taste them, you must grow them. Scarlet Nantes is the almost-scarlet classic for home gardens.
While Nantes are at least 5 1/2 inches long, there’s delight and good flavor in baby carrots, those skinny and 3 inches long, or a fat inch around. These are the carrots easiest to grow and fastest to mature. Unless you bought them from an honest farmer, carrots sold as “babies” are known in the trade as “grinder baby carrots.” They’re slender carrots pulled from the earth at 6 inches long, then cut in half, peeled and shaped at both ends to appear as 2 inches. Counterfeits.
The genuine articles are slender 3-inch cultivars such as Little Finger, Minicor and Baby Sweet Hybrid and small beet-shaped carrots, the most noteworthy these days being Thumbelina, tender and sweet from grape- to plum-size.
Perhaps you’re enjoying your homegrown carrots right now. Carrots can be left in the ground under a heavy mulch over winter-they store well there without losing too much quality. For harvesting at their peak (the number of days mentioned on the seed packet), Berlicummers are the best keeping carrots. Trim off their tops and store the carrots in a cool, dark and airy place.
Mark your calendar to start sowing seeds around the middle of April, then sow every few weeks until early August for an abundant supply and for carrots through winter.
Carrots want soil on the cool side, at least five hours of sun a day and normal amounts of water. As the weather warms, sow seeds in cooler spots in the garden. The trick of growing carrots effortlessly is to sow them so you don’t have to thin them, but close enough so their roots will discourage weeds. That’s from 2 to 4 inches apart, depending on the thickness of the carrots.
Carrots come in many shapes and sizes-long, stubby, thin, fat; your soil and willingness to fuss will determine which to grow. Ideal carrot soil is friable and well-draining. To grow long carrots in such soil, dig it to a fine tilth a foot deep, taking out all rocks. For baby carrots, prepare the soil to a depth of 6 or 8 inches. If you’re feeling lazy, grow small- to medium-size carrots in containers at least a foot deep filled with a good quality potting mix.
These days I concentrate on the babies and those carrots drenched in vitamin A: A-Plus Hybrid is remarkably rich in the vitamin and Sweetness Hybrid has both beta carotene (precursor of vitamin A) and extra-sweet flavor. Grow these in good soil or containers. Baby carrots are ready in less than two months, bigger ones take a couple of weeks longer.
When you’re ready to eat them, please don’t peel your carrots. You’ll lose nourishment and flavor. To be convinced, remove a strip of skin with a vegetable peeler and taste it. You’ll be amazed at the depth of flavor. Do scrub carrots well, however, just before cooking.
Carrots are not at their most nourishing raw. The cell walls of these roots are too tough to thoroughly break down in the digestive process, so some of their nutrients remain imprisoned. But if you cook the carrots in a broad uncovered skillet with just enough water to keep them from burning until they’re tender-crisp-a few minutes-all the nutrients will be freed.
Something else: Every time you make a cut in a carrot, nutrients escape. Small, whole, evenly shaped carrots that quickly cook to tender-crispness are the best choice.
Finally, your carrots can give you charming keepsakes. Set the leafy tops in a shallow dish of water in a bright window and watch as they grow into a bower of ferny leaves-a carrot frond garden in a saucer.
Sources
For Berlicummer, Sweetness Hybrid: William Dam Seeds, Box 8400, Dundas, Ontario, Canada L9H 6M1.
For A-Plus Hybrid: Park Seed Co., Cokesbury Rd., Greenwood, S.C. 29647- 0001.
For Little Finger: Pinetree Garden Seeds, Box 300, New Gloucester, Maine 04260.
For Minicor, Baby Sweet Hybrid, scarlet Nantes: Stokes Seeds, Box 548, Buffalo, N.Y. 14240-0548. Everybody offers Thumbelina.
With their light sweetness, pleasing texture and bright color, carrots are a valuable element in a menu. These gin-baked carrots are superb for entertaining. The strong, clear spirits have the knack of intensifying a food’s flavor.
CARROTS IN GIN
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 to 55 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
These carrots are tempting straight from the skillet, but to blend them into your menu, you can choose from any number of seasonings. For example, add a handful of finely chopped fresh leaves of chervil, tarragon, flat-leaf parsley, thyme, sage, mint, cilantro, lovage, celery, fennel or dill. Heap a tablespoon of finely shredded fresh ginger root. Sprinkle over a rounded teaspoon of fennel, caraway, dill, celery, sesame or nigella seeds. Add a veil of ground mace, nutmeg or coriander, or Chinese five-spice, curry powder or chili powder. Or cook them with a few juniper berries to deliciously underscore the gin.
1 3/4 to 2 pounds tender young carrots, preferably about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2-inch wide (larger carrots can be used), scrubbed but not peeled
1/2 cup gin or water
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into thin flakes
1/2 cup water
Seasoning as desired
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Leave baby carrots whole, trimming stem ends. To make baby-size pieces from large carrots: If thick, slice in quarters lengthwise to point where carrot is 1/2-inch wide. Cut on diagonal to make pieces 1 1/2 inches long. If desired, use vegetable peeler to round edges of quartered pieces. You’ll need 7 cups.
2. Turn carrots into a 13- by 9-inch baking dish or any 3-quart dish in which carrots are no more than 1 inch deep. Pour in gin, sprinkle with salt, sugar and pepper, distribute flakes of butter over top, then pour water over.
3. Cover tightly with foil (shiny side down) and bake in center of oven until carrots test tender with thin skewer, about 40 minutes for babies and 50 minutes for older carrots. If convenient, stir carrots once while baking. Remove from oven. (Can be prepared ahead to this point; refrigerate until ready to continue).
4. To finish, turn contents of baking dish into broad, heavy skillet. Cook over highest heat, stirring frequently with wooden spoon, until all liquid has evaporated, just butter remains and carrots are shiny. Taste for salt and pepper, blend in seasoning and turn into hot serving dish.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories………………90
Fat………………….6 g
Cholesterol…………15 mg
Sodium…………….300 mg
Carbohydrates…………9 g
Protein………………1 g
