Brown Sugar Carrots

I made these awhile ago but didn't have a chance to post it due to computer problems and then I forgot about them. This past week tho I decided to open a jar of them and see how they turned out. They were awesome. I didn't use the ginger in the recipe because without it, it was very much like the candied carrots I would make from scratch. You certainly can do that if you wish.

Carrots were really cheap a few weeks ago so I bought several lbs. and then the next day they went even cheaper, so I bought more. And yes peeling and cutting them up takes time. But I do this when I have an empty day. And so I peeled them all and saved all the skins and ends  in a plastic bag to put in my freezer. I use these when I make stock so nothing gets wasted.

This is a nice recipe but when you open it, its very thin, its not a thick syrup. While you certainly could eat the carrots just like that, they taste nice, I wanted more. And so what I did with this after opening is.......drain all the juices in a pan and turn the heat up high to reduce it. You could do that till its syrupy but I was in a hurry. So i let it reduce then got antsy. So I added a pat or so of butter an another 2tb. of brown sugar. Once it got thick, I added the carrots. The juices from the carrots will thin it down a bit again, so turn up the heat and cook till thick. If you have the time to reduce tho and dont want to add more brown sugar, I would still add a pat of butter to it. It seems to add much to the taste.

These were heavenly and Ill be making a bunch to keep on hand. I like that its packed raw. I did mine in pt. jars because theres only two of us here. It was more than enough. But if your family is larger, I would do the qt. jar. I will say I had leftover syrup after we ate the carrots. It was almost candy like, I hated to toss it away. And since the carrots are cooked in the jar, all the good vitamins and such are in the syrup too. And so I saved it to stir into my yogurt the next day with some fruit. OMgosh it was good!

Brown Sugar Carrots
7 pounds carrots
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups water
1 cup orange juice
2 pieces of crystallized ginger (omit if you do not like ginger)

Wash and peel carrots, then rinse again. Cut carrots into 3 inch pieces. Slice thicker ends in half lengthwise. Combine brown sugar, water and orange juice (and ginger if using) in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Keep syrup hot. Pack carrots tightly into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.(I stood the carrots up in the bottom of the jar and squeezed in as many as I could, then I topped them with the rest, squeezing more in. They do shrink after cooking so its important to do this.)  Ladle hot syrup over carrots, leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with plastic or wooden spatula. Process pints and quarts 30 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a pressure canner.
 
*I will say I didn't measure my carrot lbs. I did have quite a bit. But I did make this amt. of syrup and near the end was running out a bit, so I added more orange juice and heated it back up. They came out fine. I got 6pts from mine.