Happy Accidents {Recipe: Jelly Glazed Baby Carrots} (2024)

FAQs

Are baby carrots just big carrots? ›

Baby carrots are just pieces of a fully-grown, regular adult carrot, cut into two-inch fragments by a machine. Once cut up, another machine rounds off the edges, so that the carrots end up looking like the ones you buy at the grocery store.

For one, these days, with all the demand, there aren't really enough weird-looking carrots to fill the need. So baby carrots are also often made with older carrots. As carrots age, the natural sugars turn to starch, which is why you might find that baby carrots frequently seem to taste a little less sweet.

But here's the big secret about baby carrots: They're actually pieces of carrots. "Cut into two-inch pieces and peeled, and put in a bag," explained Jeff Huckaby, the CEO of Grimmway Farms, the biggest carrot grower on Earth. One regular carrot might be cut into two, three, even four baby carrots.

Allow the glazed carrots to cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container. Store your leftovers in the refrigerator for up to four days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove. We don't recommend freezing these glazed carrots, as the texture will become mushy during the thawing process.

But having them in the freezer as well will make dinner even easier. These honey maple-glazed carrots can be made ahead and frozen. Doing the work ahead of time, especially if you make several bags of these at one time, makes suppertime so much easier. They make a perfect side dish to go along with most mains.

For these honey glazed carrots, I reheated them in the oven at 325 degrees for about 5 minutes, or until heated through.

Carrots are classified based on both their length and shape: Imperator are long with thin shoulders and a tapered tip; Danvers are large and generally medium length; Nantes are also medium in length but with a rounded tip; and Chantenay are short and broad shouldered.

Stunted Plants

When carrots are exposed to excess heat, they become stunted or small. They prefer to grow in an ambient temperature of 60-70°F. Anything over 85°F can quickly stunt their growth and lead to small, sad roots. Hot temperatures can also reduce germination or cause carrot seeds not to come up at all.

Carrots can grow quite large but baby carrots are harvested when they are between 10 and 14cm long and about 2cm wide. They are much more tender and sweet than large carrots and are higher in beta carotene which helps us to see in the dark.

Common baby carrots have the same brilliant orange taproots as larger carrots, yet they are more tender and on average much sweeter than their mature counterparts. Baby carrots average 3 to 5 inches in length.