A Crock Work Orange

Carrots Make a Culinary Comeback

In proverbial wisdom, the carrot is a symbol of reward and inspiration, representing the kindly alternative to the punishment of the stick. Yet most Americans know carrots in rather uninspired ways - raw as dipping sticks, or boiled with overcooked peas. Today, more sophisticated applications, like carrot mousse, carrot cake and caramelized carrots, could be changing the taproot’s image. If they succeed, it won’t be the carrot’s first comeback.

From the same Umbelliferae family as parsley, anise, caraway, celery and dill, wild carrots (Daucus carota sativa) were native to Afghanistan. Upper class Romans appreciated that they were the sweetest of all vegetables (until the sugar beet was developed in the 19th century). Apicius wrote a carrot recipe and the physician Galen wrote that domesticated carrots were superior to wild ones, implying that Romans gardened them. After the Roman Empire fell, carrots pretty much disappeared from Europe until Arabs brought them back to Turkey in the tenth century and to Spain in the twelfth.

Those early carrots were black, red or purple and rarely used in cooking. They became more popular after a yellow strain, which didn’t discolor sauces, was developed in the 16th century. The first orange variety was cultivated in 17th century Holland, to honor that country’s royal House of Orange. After that, carrots spread quickly through the Mediterranean region with very different applications.

Turkish chefs have been serving them batter fried with yogurt for 1000 years. Sicilians like them seared in olive oil, caramelized with sugar and braised in Marsala wine. In Provence they are most famously associated with new peas in cream sauce. Greeks prefer them with scallions in olive oil. Tunisia’s best known carrot dish (ma’cuda bi’l-Jazar) is a heavily spiced omelet. In Algeria, whole cooked carrots often garnish couscous. Carrot soup is popular in most Balkan countries. Beyond the Mediterranean, pickled carrots are as common as pickled cucumbers in most of Asia. India’s most popular uses are in soups, almost always with ginger and coriander, and in desserts like halwa, and condiments like chutney.

After coming to America with some of the first settlers, carrots escaped cultivation to become Queen Anne’s lace. Yet their edible taproots didn’t became as popular here as in Europe, Africa and Asia. Americans only began to grow them in serious numbers after World War I and they are still mostly consumed raw or boiled, as in baby food, here.

Heirloom Revivalist

Jennie Smith’s Butcher Crick Farm of Carlisle raises customized foods for Iowa restaurants like Centro, Le Jardin, Django, Phat Chefs, Dish, Raccoon River Brewing Company, Mojo’s and the Embassy Club. Smith farms several heirloom carrots from Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Last year she had good luck with Purple Dragons, Tonda de Parigi, White Belgian, Lunar White, Nantes and White Satin. She said she discovered that carrots had an unexpected reward.

“Next to tomatoes, carrots are the most exciting thing to smell in the garden. You can’t help but get excited pulling them from the ground. The smell makes your brain anticipate the taste of sweetness,“ Smith said.

Smith offered these tips to Iowa growers.

~ Carrots like soil that is loose, with equal parts sand, peat moss and sifted, limed compost. If soil isn’t loose enough, roots will fork.

~ Plant carrots in straight rows, so you can distinguish weeds from carrot tops.

~ Sow seeds about an inch deep, one or two weeks before the last frost.

~ The denser your planting, the smaller your carrot roots will be. Plant seeds about 12 inches apart.

~ You can eat young carrots pulled out for thinning.

~ Keep the greens on to sell, but get rid of them to store. Greens really shorten your storage window.

~ White carrots are the most sensitive by far and all heirlooms take longer to germinate. Fifty days is normal for hybrids but heirlooms take 70 to 80 days.

Recipes

Jennifer Strauss’ Spiced Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Icing

Jennifer Strauss owns Carefree Patisserie in Valley Junction where cakes are the specialty and cupcakes are a popular way to sample her vast repertoire. This is her favorite carrot cupcake recipe. Strauss uses the super fine grate on an ordinary vegetable grater to produce more carrot juice for a moister cake.

Makes 12 -14 cupcakes

3 and half cups super fine freshly shredded orange carrots
4 eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
Three fourths cup Canola oil
Third cup buttermilk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
Fourth tsp. salt
Half tsp. vanilla extract
Half tsp. orange extract
Half tsp. ground cassia cinnamon
2 tsp. Garam Masala (Punjabi style curry mix includes coriander, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, charmushka, caraway, cloves, ginger and nutmeg)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour and spices. Set aside. Combine sugars, oil, buttermilk, eggs, carrots and extracts in mixing bowl. Mix until combined (about 1 minute on average). Add dry ingredients and mix on medium for 3 - 4 minutes.

Scoop into cupcake pans, lined with papers. Bake 12 - 14 minutes @ 350 degrees F. Test with toothpick until it comes out clean.

Allow to cool before icing.

Honey Cream Cheese Icing

10 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. Butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
Fourth cup honey

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and honey. Whip for 4 minutes.

Tag Grandgeorge’s Butcher Crick Farm Carrot Mousse

Tag Grandgeorge is owner-chef of Le Jardin in Des Moines, a French café that buys produce from Butcher Crick Farm.

Yield: Eight servings of 4 ½ ounces each
4 cups carrots, peeled and small chopped
1 and a half cups chicken stock
1 cup cream
4 medium eggs
Half tsp. ground cumin
Nutmeg to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring carrots and stock to a boil, cover and simmer under carrots are very tender. Puree until smooth. Add eggs and process for 45 seconds. Blend in cream, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Prepare moulds with no-stick pan spray and grate nutmeg into bottom of each mould (any round bottom vessel may be used for the mould - I use coffee mugs). Fill each mould with four to four and a half ounces of puree. Cook in a 340 degree F oven in a bain marie and covered with foil for 40 - 45 minutes, or until mousse is set. Let cool 15 minutes before unmolding. Serve warm! This may be made ahead and warmed in microwave oven for 15 - 20 seconds individually.

Tag’s serving suggestions:
Serve with mixed salad greens, roasted baby turnips, shredded duck, poppy-seed dressing and fresh baguette.
　
Fact or Fallacy

Carrots have inspired much lore, some fact, some fiction.

~ Fact - eating too many carrots can turn your skin orange, a benign condition known as carotenosis.

~ Fallacy, consuming carrots regularly can not help humans see in the dark. This urban myth was intentionally circulated by the British in World War II to cover up their use of radar. Many believed it because a lack of Vitamin A, plentiful in carrots, can cause poor vision.

~ The verdict is still out whether purple skinned carrots can prevent cancer. Texas A&M scientists have developed such a carrot for that intention but it will be years before its effectiveness can be evaluated.

Types of Carrots Carrots are divided into Eastern and Western varieties. Eastern carrots are also called from Anthocyanin carrots because of their purple roots, even though some have yellow roots. Western carrots evolved from the first Turkish cultivars and have orange, white or red roots. Western carrots are divided into short-rooted varieties that mature quickly, medium-rooted varieties that are the most common commercial carrots, and long-rooted varieties that require deep, soft soil.