Canning Carrots

Canning carrots is such an easy way to preserve them, and it makes for a quick side dish.

Carrots take up so much much needed room in our fridge. Specially when I buy them in bulk. At our local grocery store in town, you can get a 25 pound bag for next to nothing. So I always seem to have a good amount of home-canned carrots in my pantries. So can you.

Raw Pack or Hot Pack

This is a question that comes up often when canning carrots.

Raw pack means that you place your raw carrots into jars, cover with hot water and place them into your canner. I do warm my jars up a little in the oven, only because I don’t want to chance them cracking when I pour in the boiling water.

Hot packing is just how it sounds. Hot carrots packed into hot jars. For carrots you will need to blanch them for 5 minutes before packing them into your jars.

Either way you choose is fine. The carrots turn out great in my opinion either way. I prefer to raw pack, only because I have about a billion things on my to-do list daily. So, the quicker the better for me.

Preparing Your Carrots

You want to wash and peel your carrots. Now do you have to peel them, no. It isn’t a must. Just remember that sometimes the peelings don’t taste all that great and the flavor will get stronger when you can. Once you have them peeled, prepare your jars either by raw packing or hot packing.

Salt or No Salt

This again is a personal preference. You do not have to add salt. It is not needed to preserve your carrots. It is all about flavor. I don’t add in salt, but if you do- go for it. You would had a 1/2 teaspoon per pint and 1 teaspoon per quart. Also be sure to use canning salt or sea salt.

Canning Carrots

Fill your canning with the correct amount of water. That is so important. Make sure you always read the manufacturers instrutctions. I have a presto 23 quart canner and it calls for 3 quarts of water. Also be sure to fill a pot or tea kettle up and get the water hot.

If you raw pack you will cut the carrots up, pack your jars, and pour the boiling water over the carrots. Be sure to leave the proper headspace of 1 inch. Put the lid and rings on your jars and place them in your pressure canner.

If you hot pack, you will blanch your carrots for 5 minutes, pack your jars and cover with boiling water. Making sure you leave a 1 inch head space. Put your hot lids and rings on your jars, and place them in a hot pressure canner.

Put the lid on the pressure canner and be sure to vent your canner for 10 minutes. Once it has been vented, put your weight on and bring it up to the proper pressure for your altitude. Once you reach the correct pressure, start your time. Pints are 25 minutes and quarts are 30 minutes.

When your time is up, shut off the canner and let the pressure come down naturally.

Remove your jars from the canner once all the pressure is out, and set them on a towel. Now stand back and pat yourself on the back for your hard work! You deserve it!!

Leave the jars undisturbed for 24 hours. Be sure to check the seals the following day to make sure they all sealed correctly.