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canned carrots
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Canned Carrots Recipe

Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time25 minutes
Calories: 60kcal

Equipment

  • Cutting board
  • Paring knife
  • Pint jars
  • Pressure canner
  • Jar lifter
  • Canning funnel
  • Stockpots for boiling water
  • Canning lids and bands
  • Clean towel
  • Oven mitts
  • Bubble removing tool OR wooden utensil

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs carrots per pint
  • canning salt (optional, to taste)
  • water

Instructions

  • Begin by thoroughly washing your carrots. The easiest way to do this, if you have a lot of carrots, is to dump them in a bathtub or large sink and then fill the tub up with water. Scrub all the dirt off the carrots. If they were not organically grown, I also recommend peeling them (I skipped this step, since ours are grown organically). This will get any last traces of pesticide off.
  • Decide how you would like to cut up your carrots. You can leave them whole if they are small enough to fit into your canning jars, or you can slice them into rounds or diced pieces. I prefer to slice mine into rounds, as they’re easiest to can and to eat this way.
    bucket of carrots ready to go
  • While you are dicing your carrots, you should wash your jars in a hot rinse in the dishwasher. This will sanitize them. You should also sanitize your bands, but you do not need to do this for the lids. Instead, have a pot of water going on the back of the stove to heat up your lids and sanitize them, too.
  • Once your carrots are cleaned and cut up, go ahead and start a pot of boiling water on your stovetop. After it has reached a boil, you can ladle it over your carrots as you pack them in the jars. You can also add a teaspoon of salt to the jars, too - this is optional and doesn’t impact the canning safety at all, just the flavor.
    ladling water into the jars
  • After slowly ladling your water over your carrots, you can remove air bubbles with a bubble removing tool or a wooden spoon. Do not use metal, as it can etch the glass. Make sure you have about 1-inch of headspace between the top of the water and the top of the jar. Wipe the rims of the jars to make sure there is no food residue on the outside of the canning jars.
  • Secure your canning lids and bands on the jars, tightening them until they are fingertip tight. Don’t overtighten. Fill your canner with three quarts of water.
  • Load your jars into the canner, making sure that they do not touch. Put the lid on the canner and turn on your heat, allowing the canner to steam off before you add your weight. This usually takes ten to fifteen minutes to occur, depending on whether you preheated your canner before you loaded the jars. Once steam starts coming through the vent, you should wait for about ten minutes.
    loading a jar into the canner
  • Once you have steamed off your canner, you can add the weight (also known as the regulator). The air vent will pop up within a few minutes as pressure begins to build. Allow the pressure canner to build to a pressure of 10 lbs before you begin timing.
  • Process your pints for 25 minutes. If you choose to do quarts, you will need to add an additional five minutes. You should process at a pressure of 10 lbs in your pressure canner.
  • Once the jars have finished up in the pressure canner, you should turn the heat off and wait for the pressure to return to zero. Do not open the lid until the pressure has equalized, as you risk seriously burning yourself.
  • After the pressure has come back down, you are safe to remove the lid and extract your jars using the jar lifters. Place the jars on a clean towel - don’t place them directly on your countertop. Not only can the hot jars leave unsightly rings on your counters, but the cool temperatures of the counter can cause the glass jars to break on contact.
  • Leave your jars to cool overnight, or at least 12 to 24 hours. Try to let them cool in an area where you won’t risk bumping them or where there is a strong draft.
  • After the jars have cooled, check to make sure they have sealed (you may hear popping noises as the lids seal). To do this, press down on the lids. If they flex, you will need to store the jars in the refrigerator and eat them within a week. If they stay put, you are good to go.
  • Store your jars in a cool, dark location (such as a basement, pantry, or root cellar). You may remove the rings if you’d like, as your jars are perfectly sealed without them. This will reduce the likelihood of rust buildup on the bands.

Notes

There are some people who claim that carrots must be peeled in order to eliminate the risk of botulism, since botulism is a soil borne bacteria. However, since you are processing in a pressure canner, you don’t have to worry about this extra step. Peeling is simply a matter of preference.
Currently, although the USDA has conducted studies about whether you need to peel potatoes before canning (you do - because the skins prevent even heat dispersal), there are none backing up claims that carrots are unsafe when left unpeeled. The choice is yours.