Did I blanch baby-cut carrots correctly?
The Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library suggests blanching 3/4 lb baby carrots for crudités in boiling salted water until bright orange, about 15 s. I added a tablespoon of salt to almost four quarts of water and blanched almost 2 lb of baby-cut carrots for 15 s. They didn't change color in this time, but they seemed bright orange from the start. After shocking in ice water and draining, I tasted the blanched carrots against the original raw carrots. They tasted roughly the same. Maybe the blanched ones were slightly less bitter but I'm not sure I would consistently say that in a blind taste test. What difference in taste should I have noticed?
Did I do something wrong? Should I have left them in the boiling water for longer than 15 s? The National Center for Home Food Preservation suggests 5 min for small carrots, but that's for a freezing application rather than raw consumption.
Best Answer
My guess is that you dropped 2lb of carrots into the water. This drops the water temperature under the boiling-simmering point. So, you're not blanching correctly. You should have taken about 3/4lb portions and blanched them successively. (Or you should have used more water on a bigger stove top.)
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How Long to Blanch Carrots. According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, diced or sliced carrots should be blanched for 2 minutes. Small, whole carrots (like baby carrots) should be blanched for 5 minutes.Are baby carrots blanched?
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Answer 2
The Cook's instructions uses a much smaller carrot! Turn the page-they are cut in small sticks-I think that is why the 15 seconds wasn't enough
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