How to Store Carrots

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For many of us, carrots are a staple in our diet. They are packed with nutrients, are relatively low in calories, and add a touch of sweetness to savoury dishes. But there is nothing increasingly frustrating than opening the fridge to find that they’ve gone limp and soft without only a few days. The good news is that with a few simple tips you can learn how to store carrots and alimony them fresh for weeks!

How to store fresh carrots

Prepare the carrots for storage

Proper storage starts with good preparation, since you don’t know exactly how long the carrots were on the shelf surpassing you bought them, start this process as soon as you get home.

Firstly, if your carrots have untried tops on them, you should slice these off straight away. While they might squint pretty and rustic, they are unquestionably the growing part of the plant you see whilom the soil, and therefore they are unquestionably fed by the root (the carrot). If you leave them on they will protract to pericope nutrients and moisture from the carrot.

Method 1 – The plastic bag

The simplest method for storing carrots is to transfer them to a plastic supplies bag. Then store them in the vegetable drawer in the fridge. The plastic bag helps to lock in moisture virtually the carrots which unquestionably prevents them from rhadamanthine limp. Don’t seal the bag and make sure air is worldly-wise to circulate to the carrots.

To make this method increasingly sustainable, you can use an old specie bag, which has the widow bonus of stuff long and thin. Or you can use these reusable supplies storage bags.

When storing carrots using the plastic bag method, make sure they are fully dry surpassing storage as any moisture on the surface can rationalization them to rot. Pat them dry with a paper towel beforehand.

Carrots stored in a bag in the fridge should last for 2-3 weeks, depending on how fresh they were when you bought them. The storage conditions in your fridge may moreover stupefy the freshness. Take a squint through the unelevated information well-nigh why carrots go soft in the fridge.

Method 2 – Water

For the longest-lasting carrots (without freezing them), the weightier method to use is to place them in a container of water in the fridge. You can use a large Tupperware box or plane a large jug. As the carrots can be stored vertically or horizontally, you can find whatever weightier fits your space. You can moreover add a lid if you want to reduce the chances of spillage, but since the carrots are protected from air by the water, this isn’t essential.

If you follow the water method then make sure to transpiration the water every 5 days to alimony them fresh. The carrots moreover need to be completely submerged in the water surpassing storing.

Carrots stored in water in the fridge will last up to 2 months, depending on how fresh they were when you bought them.

Why do carrots go soft in the fridge?

Have you overly gone to grab a carrot out of the fridge, only to find that it’s gone limp and soft? It can be quite frustrating, expressly if you were looking forward to a crunchy snack. Luckily, there are a few simple explanations for why this happens.

1. Carrots are well-nigh 80% water, so they tend to lose moisture when they’re stored in the fridge and fully unshut to the air. This can rationalization them to go soft and lose their crunch.
2. If your fridge temperature is too low then the surface of the carrots may freeze a little. This can rationalization them to go soggy and mushy when defrosting.
3. Carrots are sensitive to ethylene gas, which is a growth hormone and can speed up the ripening (and aging) process. Ethylene gas is given off by unrepealable fruits and vegetables such as apples, bananas, melons and peaches. So if you store carrots near to them, you may find it causes your carrots to go off increasingly quickly.

How to store sliced carrots

Crisp, unprepossessed carrots are a refreshing wing to any meal, but they can be a bit of a hassle to prepare. If you’re tired of chopping carrots every time you want a snack, there’s a much easier way to store them. Just pop the sliced veg in a container of water and alimony them in the fridge. Not only will this prevent them from drying out, but it will moreover alimony them nicely chilled. Plus, you can just grab a carrot out of the container whenever you want one, without having to do any prep work.

Sliced carrots which are stored in water will alimony super fresh for virtually 1 week. Although they will last for 2-3 weeks in total.

How to freeze carrots

You can likewise freeze carrots for up to 12 months, although there are a few requisites. Frozen carrots will never defrost when into crunchy raw veg so if you want to eat them raw or slice and toss them into salads this is not the method for you.

However, if you are planning on using them in recipes such as soups or stews, or serving them as a cooked side dish, then freezing has a few uneaten benefits too. You can unquestionably prep the carrots surpassing storing them, saving you time later.

For weightier results when freezing carrots first wash, peel and slice them as required. Next, you need to whitewash them, this ways wink cooking them in humid water surpassing ‘refreshing’ them in an ice suffuse to stop the cooking process. Frozen carrots which aren’t whitish first will lose their vibrancy and colour, they will moreover last a lot longer in the freezer. You can moreover trammels out this full vendible well-nigh how to freeze carrots.

So now you know how to alimony carrots fresh for months, why not try out one of these recipes with your stash?

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