Sunday, March 11, 2018

Canning: Pressure Canning Carrots

I grow carrots in my float garden. I plant in spring and begin harvesting in August. I can carrots in the ground through winter. Our climate can get below freezing, but even with a bit of snow they survive better in the ground than indoors.

This week I pulled the last of my carrots to prepare my beds for spring planting. There were so many left I decided to can them to tide us over until the new crop comes in.


I'm new at canning, especially pressure canning. In fact, this is my second time doing it. The first was with potatoes. I found a Facebook group called Safe Canning Recipes and the admins and members help answer my newbie questions. I read their blog, used their advice and then followed the recipe that came with my Presto pressure canner.

Processing the carrots.
First I had to process all the carrots. Some were quite large. Scarlet Nantes get that way yet remain crisp and sweet. I washed, trimmed and peeled them before chopping into medium-sized chunks. Thanks to Ginger on Facebook for the tip to keep them in water until ready to can.

I used the raw pack method. I packed the carrot chunks into each jar leaving an inch of empty space. Then I filled the jar with boiling water, again leaving one inch of head space for expansion during canning.

Filling the pints one at a time.

I have a dial-gauge, so I have to watch the canner while it's working. I treated myself to a glass of wine and played solitaire on my iPad for the 25 minutes of processing time. For complete safe canning instructions refer to National Center for Home Food Preservation and your canner's manufacturer.

The finished product resting for 24-hours on a rare winter sunny day.

Tonight I’ll wash the jars and put them in my pantry. Canning carrots is much easier than jam or pickles. This year I’ll do more vegetables and fruits to have on hand for winter use. It’s been nice to go to my pantry and make meals without having to go to the store so often.

Can’t you image us opening a jar of these lovely bright orange carrots for dinner some night?  Do you can at your home? What are some of your favourite things to put up? -- Margy

12 comments:

  1. I have always thought of doing this one year with vegetables but never get around to it. I admire others that do this kind of thing. Instead I buy it at the store. Do let us know how they taste when you open your first jar of the carrots.

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    1. I will. I'm new at this. I enjoy trying new things and having food on hand at the cabin really helps. - Margy

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  2. I can quite a bit but never used a pressure canner. I'm a bit nervous of it.

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    1. I had mine almost two years before I tried it last month to can potatoes. Now that I've done it twice it isn't so scary. It's actually a lot easier than water bath. - Margy

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  3. Your carrots do look bright and beautiful!

    I used to can and freeze everything and had a big garden -- when our kids were at home. One year I made picallili (sp?) relish with baby vegetables from our garden -- enough for us and for Christmas gifts for all the grandparents.......

    That has been many years ago, as we stopped doing gardens and canning when our kids grew up. And now that our children are all middle aged (and one of them a grandmother herself) those are really long-ago memories.

    We travel too much now to have a garden, even if I wanted to, but I wouldn't have missed those years for anything!!

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    1. I guess I'm the reverse. When I was younger I didn't have a garden and worked too many hours to even cook many meals. Now that I'm retired I live in a place where I can garden and have taught myself canning. We travel in the summer so we ask a friend to come water every third day. Our summer trips don't last more than a week usually so I can still garden. - Margy

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  4. You are an inspiration!

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    1. You are going to give me a swelled head. - Margy

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  5. Anonymous11:33 PM

    Thank you for visiting me last week:) Wow your carrots are huge! Never got to canning, because am a city girl, or rather "was." And now, the forest where I live have too many animals around for which veggies would be a delicious snack:) Hope to see the plants of your spring garden soon!

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    1. I can only grow my garden because it floats in the lake. The only thing I can grow on shore unprotected is potatoes, but even those get their tops chewed off during the summer. - Margy

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  6. Thanks for visiting! Great blog. Your carrots looks "jummy"

    Irene, Norway

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy