Beta-Carrot-ing

I know I can’t be the only one thinking of it. After all, Canadian Crafter, Kansas has made a jam from carrots, with some tempting looking results. (YUM. Please note that though she sells some jams? She’s not offered to sell THAT one. However she’s GIVING IT AWAY to some lucky U.S. or Canadian citizen. Go – drool!) Surely someone else has thought of making… carrot butter?

Why not, right? Our farm box has provided many seasonal UK goodies (with the notable exception of turnips in the category of a ‘goodie,’ but we’re working that out), and we have carrots aplenty. And why not come up with a carrot butter instead of an apple butter? Surely it would be close to the same thing? So, taking an apple butter recipe, here’s my daring plan:

• approx. 4 pounds of carrots
• 2 c. apple juice, pressed fresh, and its de-
  seeded pulp, about two cups worth
• juice of one lemon
• one gutted vanilla bean, optional
• 1 peeled diced ginger root
• 1/4 tbsp. freshly ground each: allspice and cloves
• 1/2 tsp. each freshly ground: white pepper, coriander, nutmeg
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar**

Slice and place carrots in a roasting pan, and heat the oven to about 350. (That’s… um, 130 C? Dunno. I just turn the oven on here, we leave it on a pre-set temp and don’t worry too much with temperatures because our oven is clunks along like Frankenstein anyway.)

Pour in juice of lemon and apple with the carrots, and cook them uncovered, stirring periodically, for about two hours, or until they give evidence of being quite soft.

Place the carrots and juice in a pot, or a blender. I’ll be using my stick blender to pureé them to a spreadable consistency, and at that time I’ll add to them the pulp of the apple and the freshly chopped ginger. Afterwards, the pureéd carrots need to cook down. As they are simmering on low, add in the freshly ground seasonings, including a pinch of salt, depending on the sweetness of your carrots, the optional vanilla bean and lemon zest. Let simmer for about ten minutes, and voila! Carrot butter!

Later…

Please note this is all theorizing; I shall offer you pictures of the whole thing shortly. I couldn’t wait to do this — the amount we made won’t make it to the canning process, but BOY howdy is this good. (The twice toasted bread is also good enough to make you consider a life of crime. Yum.)

The intent was to just put in a wee bit of sugar so that the carrots could be taken to a savory or sweet place, but the apples this time of year are simply at full flavor, so ours is deliciously sweet. You’ll be surprised at how good this is if you try it.

The carrots DO take about three hours to roast – or else our oven is just wonky – be warned!

So, that’s us using up our load of carrots for the week! Oh, and we’ve figured out what to do with the turnips from the CSA box… one of them has begun to sprout. The words, “I wonder if those are edible,” were scarcely out of my mouth before I squealed. I love turnip greens best of all. I’m going to find some dirt and a flowerpot. Stay tuned for what we figure out for the massive heads of cabbage…

**Sugar: now, this ingredient is going to take fiddling a bit. If I’m trying to put these up in jars, I will need MUCH MORE, because I have to have the acidity. If not — I can get by on the sweetness of the carrots and the apples, I think.

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