Dear Sarah in Northwest Pennsylvania ... Welcome. Please spend some time going through the many, many previous discussions we've had about all kinds of fruit, vegetables, canning, jamming, and preserving.

But for now, if you don't have the Ball Blue Book, please look for one at WalMart, amazon.com, various produce stands, or their website, etc. Admittedly it's past much of the season, but you should be able to find one somewhere. Please be sure to read and follow directions from only very CURRENT editions, because recipes and rules change. The reason? Some of the previous and older canning recipes do not have safe procedures -- that is, safe by our standards today. It's very important to follow safe directions! You can go to: www.freshpreserving.com to see the book and other information by one of the "Mason jar" companies.

For now, you can also go to a wonderful website with up-to-date recipes and procedures. Spend some time looking there. It's a bounty of information. And I'm sure you'll be insprired.

Good luck, and hope to see you here more often.

Kathy in Washington

Here is a link that might be useful: National Center for Home Food Preservation

If you go to the NCHFP site, as Kathy recommended, you'll see the current times and pressures for carrots. I'm assuming you do have a suitable pressure canner. Without one it wouldn't be possible to can carrots.

Below I've posted a link to a previous post by one of our members in which she shares ways to can carrots with orange, pineapple, cranberries and brown sugar for quick flavored vegetable side dishes. You can mix-and-match flavors as you choose as long as you follow the instructions for amounts.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: BrokenBar's Canned Carrots

Another welcome from me, Sarah. I also canned carrots this year, some plain and some with orange juice and brown sugar, using the recipe from the Ball Blue Book.

I found them a bit too sweet, but the kids just LOVED them. I did find that I had to make extra "syrup", there wasn't enough to cover the carrots, and it made 8 pints.

Glazed Carrots

6-7 lbs carrots
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups water
1 cup orange juice

Wash and peel carrots. Wash again. Cut carrots into 3 inch pieces. Slice thicker ends in half lengthwise.

Combine brown sugar, water and orange juice in a saucepot. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Keep syrup hot.

Pack carrots tightly into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace.

Ladle hot syrup over carrots, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps.

Process pints and quarts 30 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.

Annie

Lots of people like carrot cake jam. I still have not tasted any. I love carrot cake, though. I hear the jam is sweet.
You can also make pickled carrots, it just requires a boiling water bath, not pressure canned.

Yes, was a great carrot year here in PA! First time ever I had a bumper crop with all the rain.
If you pick up the Ball Canning Book, there is a Carrot Marmalade recipe in there, it is excellent. That's what I did for some of mine.

Good idea, Liz, I'm off to find that recipe.

Annie

I manage to grow carrots all year long, so my need for canning them is minimal. I just sore them in the ground! However, I have pickled them since I find they really add something to pickled jalapenos and carrots. I have also pickled them as part of a mixed jardiniera (with peppers, green beans, cauliflowers, nasturtium seeds and celery). I plan to add olives to it and make muffalata mix (but then it has to be kept in the fridge). I used the same recipe as dilly beans for the jardiniera, and a recipe I like for pickled peppers on the jalapenos/carrots. I don't remember where I got it but I have posted it here and no one said it was unsafe...it has more vinegar than the dilly bean recipe so i figure it is safe.

Let me know if this sounds interesting and I can post either or both recipes. Pickling has the advantage of not requiring a pressure canner.

cabrita, I'd like the carrot and jalapeno pickle recipe, if you have a minute. I wouldn't eat it, probably, but Elery would love it!

Annie

sarahnwpa - another welcome from me! I hope all this info is helpful to you - let us know, ok?

We can most all our carrots plain so we can use them in all sorts of things and then add whatever flavorings we want at serving time but I will add my vote to the Carrot Marmalade recipe. First class! ;)

Dave

Pickled peppers (and carrots)

5 cups Cider vinegar (5% vinegar)
1 cups water
10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
5-6 bay leaves
2 tbsp picking salt (kosher will work)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp coriander seeds
Peppers (I used a mix of hot peppers: tabascos, wax, cayenne, jalapenos, pequin, thai, serranos)
Carrots (optional but they go nicely with jalapenos)

Put vinegar and spices in a pot and bring it to boil. Blanch or steam (very lightly) peppers and carrots. Put the peppers and carrots in two 1-quart jars and (while still hot) pour the hot vinegar solution. I like to include the garlic, bay leaves and some coriander seeds in the jars, it looks pretty. Cover and let it cool down to room temperature. Refrigerate and wait a couple of days for the pickles to be `done'.
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Here you go Annie. If you want to keep them outside the fridge you will need to BWB for 12-15 minutes, but you already knew that. We just make a quart of each, a really hot pepper one, and one with jalapenos and carrots. We consider the jalapenos 'medium' as far as heat, since we also grow serranos, pequins, scotch bonnets, datils, aji limon.....