Thursday 30 August 2018

Comparing Carrots for Taste


This has been another good year for carrots (if you overlook the fact that the early sowings failed to germinate, so no Early Nantes). Last year was a bumper year but I didn't get organised enough to do an objective taste test.  

There are five varieties. Autumn King2, Flakee, James Scarlet Intermediary, St Valery and Berlicum2

JSI 

The Berlicum were noticeably more cylindrical. Flakee and St Valery most uniformly tapered.  I deliberatley chose similar sized roots for the purposes of the taste test.  I think they look great in cross section.

St Valery
Tasting notes.  They all tasted great!  For my two indicators, sweetness and depth of taste, Autumn King 2 was my winner.  I thought this might be because it was the first to be tasted, but a return visit confirmed this hair splitting exercise outcome.  I would be happy with any of the above on my plate.  I do accept that my exercise may produce different results after storage or after cooking.

I also have a soft spot for the appearance of one:




Posted by at
Labels:

3 comments:

  1. Sue Garrett30 August 2018 at 15:25

    Any home grown carrots are delicious aren’t they?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kate11 September 2018 at 23:40

    Ah, I just got the connection between the post and the song. Well done.
    One year I had so many carrots I left about ten in the ground. By the middle of the winter they were massive hoary things about 30cm circumference (I may exaggerate) and sour and horrible as anything. Inedible really. I grated one, threw it in a huge pot with a couple of grated potatoes and two finely chopped onions and lots of butter. Cooked them a bit until they were 'melty', added about three pints of water and some salt, simmered the lot about half an hour, and then stuck the whole lot in batches through the blender. Served with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and fresh bread and butter, it was WONDERFUL! So sweet and smooth and mild and delicious! The transformation was astonishing. I've often made it since. Oddly, people don't know what the vegetable is. They often guess pumpkin.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mal12 September 2018 at 01:25

    Thanks for your kind comments, Kate. I'll be giving that recipe a go. You must tell me if carrot root fly is as prevalent in NZ as here. (I imagine it goes wherever carrots grow, but it has built up on traditional UK allotments because carrots are grown by somebody year after year.)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)