Ditto the above posters. We empty the crispers in our main fridge in the fall and stuff them full of carrots just after the first light frost or two. We cut off the tops about an inch above the shoulders, wash the carrots and store in plastic bags with a paper towel laid in the bottom Carrots get mushy if they're subjected to hard frosts (at least they have for me), especially if the shoulders are above the soil a bit. They're not like parsnips, which can stand more/harder frosts, but they do get sweetest after some cold weather. I plant our carrots in late May and harvest in mid to late September here in zone 2. We've usually eaten up all our carrots by the end of January or early February and they're still bright and crisp then (Bolero variety), so I'm not sure how much longer they would store if we had more space. My mother-in-law uses her carrots well into spring, if I recall, but they're a bit wobbly and covered with hairy roots by then. Once you peel, chop and cook them, though, they taste fine. I'm going to try storing some in our basement in damp peat this winter to a) see how long they last and b) see if they take on any sort of off taste from the peat. I'm hesitant to try the storage in damp peat/soil/sand/etc. method for the main bulk of them until I've tried it once with a test few! :)

I've just returned from a week-long trip to California to research these little abominations *. I'm somewhat disappointed at the response to this thread; it was meant to be my personal blog devoted to complaining about baby cut carrots. But since I never got around to the blog, being in California and all**, thanks for your ideas. It sounds like the carrot industry, at least in North America, steamrolls over the distinction between baby and baby cut carrots as if it were trivial, which it isn't. Not long ago I read Eliot Coleman rapsodizing about his genuine baby carrots. I used to get genuine baby carrots from the store. And I bet Europeans wouldn't put up with the baby cut ones we get here. Which is harder on the environment, sending crooked/broken/outsized carrots to municipal composting facilities or to local pig farms for feed, or running them through a carving/polishing contraption, packaging them and shipping them to Nova Scotia? Next time we plan a trip to town we'll bring conventional carrots from Nova Scotia or even the US, cut into pieces, instead. Good topic for a slow day on the OG forum, anyway. *Not really **I wasn't

Thanks for all the replies. This is what I do (most of the time). On things like cereal boxes, pasta boxes, etc, I initially cut the boxes apart at all the seams. I give the larger flat pieces to my 6 y/o GD for her artwork. The narrow edge strips, tops and bottoms, get torn up and tossed into the compost. Then, after she has finished her drawing, she gives the big pieces back to me, and I peel them down, giving her more surface area to draw and doodle on. When she is finished, then she gets to cut them into strips, practicing her cutting skills. Then off to the compost they go. So we are reusing, then recycling. She's happy, I'm happy, and eventually the compost is happy. A good overall learning experience for her, plus it gets her more involved in the composting efforts. Sassy

Technically it meets the 1:1 ratio minimum for untested recipes as long as the vinegar used is 5% or higher. But like you I'd be more comfortable with more vinegar. The approved Pickled Carrots recipe calls for 5 1/2 c vinegar to 1 cup of water so more than a 5:1 ratio, and it contains no onions or peppers. I'd also increase the processing time to the 15 min called for with the pickled carrots and other pickled vegetables. JMO Dave Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Pickled Carrots