Canned Sweet & Sour Glazed Carrots (UPDATED)

UPDATE:  Well, these didn't turn out so well.  The carrots were way too mushy and much too sweet.  I've been using them in a cream of carrot soup but even still, they're quite sweet.  I'm going to try and cut the sweetness of the soup by adding potatoes.

I need to definitely adjust the recipe.

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Isabella is a carrot fiend in house.  I love carrots, too, almost as much as she does.  Joel and the twins like them well enough, but not to the degree that Isabella and I do.  Other than eggs, I think Isabella's favourite food is Carrot Soup.

Now, I can't really can Carrot Soup as it has dairy in it and it would be too thick to can the puree base, but I can certainly can some carrots that would be eaten as a side dish.  The family enjoys glazed carrots.  The only thing I didn't add was the cornstarch.  I figure I can add the cornstarch when I open the can up.

Starting with the carrots, I peeled and cut them up into similar-sized pieces.  The carrot peels and trimmings get bagged and frozen for later use in soup stock making.

Once the carrots are all cut up, I blanch them in boiling water.  I bring the water back up to boil and boil for 3 minutes.  I like to hot pack.  I find the vegetable or fruit retains a better firmness over raw pack.  Hot packing enables some of the air voids to be expelled from the vegetable/fruit, which then means you can pack more into a jar.  However, raw pack works well, too.  I think it just comes down to personal preference.  With this recipe, either works and the processing time doesn't change.

Once the carrots have been blanched, they go into hot, sterilized jars and get packed firmly.  I use a skinny rubber spatula to pack them in tightly.  Once packed, I add the sauce.

Making the sauce is very easy.  All you need to do is add all the ingredients to a pot and bring it up to a boil.  That's it.  Now, if I wasn't using this to can, I would also add some cornstarch to it so it would thicken, but since this is going to be processed, no cornstarch.

Here are the jars packed with carrots and the hot sauce added to them.  All I need to do is add the lids and rings, and then pop them into the pressure canner.  If you are not at elevation, the processing time is 25 minutes for pints (500-ml) and 30 minutes for quarts (1-litre) at 10 pounds pressure.  Now, because I am at elevation, I must process at 15 pounds pressure, but for the same time.  Please make sure you follow your manufacturer's instructions regarding your pressure canner.  Also, unless you have a pressure canner/cooker, most pressure cookers cannot do canning.

And, all done!

Sweet & Sour Glazed Carrots

Makes 6 1/2 litres

15 pounds carrots, peeled and cut up

2 cups (400 grams) packed brown sugar
3 cups water
3 cups orange juice
1 cup vinegar
2 tsp. ground ginger

Either hot pack or raw pack carrots into hot, sterilized jars.  If hot pack, boil carrots for 3 minutes in a pot of boiling water before packing into jars.

Add sugar, water, juice, vinegar, and ginger into a pot and bring to a boil. Pour hot liquid over carrots into jars, leaving 1-inch head space.  Process 25 minutes for pints and 30 minutes for quarts at 10 pounds pressure.