Freezing Carrots

So I had a bunch of carrots leftover from a soup that I made recently and didn't want them to go bad. So I thought, why not freeze them? Well I had no idea that there is a certain way to freeze carrots. Here's how to do it:

Wash and scrub clean the carrots under running water. Peel skin and cut off ends if needed.

Cut carrots into smaller pieces. The cut size depends on your preference and how you plan to use them for recipes in the future. You can dice, chop, coarsely cut, julienne,... etc. Cut size doesn't matter, but generally the smaller size the shorter the blanch time in boiling water.

Fill a large stockpot with water by 3/4 full and bring it to a boil. Add sugar (helps keep the carrots sweet) as some sweetness will leach from the carrots during blanching. Add a pinch of salt if desired.

When water is boiling, place carrots in the pot and blanch for 3 minutes. Start timing right after carrots reach the water. This is important as you don't want mushy carrots in the end. The blanched carrots should be just fork tender.

Prepare a bucket or container filled with cold water and ice while the carrots are blanching.

Use a wire mesh and pick out the blanched carrots. Drain well, and then place them in colander.

Place the colander holding the carrots in the ice water container/bucket to chill, which will stop the cooking process immediately.

Let carrots cool to room temperature. Drain. Place carrots in resealable freezer bag(s); label date before freezing. Frozen carrots keep well up to one year.

Use the free freezer labels that I have posted in the past!

Read more: How to Freeze Carrots | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5885298_freeze-carrots.html#ixzz1FNlV4zgr