Pickled Carrots

In my ever present quest to incorporate more veggies into my diet, I decided to give pickled carrots a whirl.  They are super easy to make, but will make your house stink like vinegar.  This was not a good thing.

The carrots themselves taste very much like mustard.  I like mustard, but it was a bit much for me. Blockette took one tiny bite and spit it out.  I don't think it was the taste so much, but the smell.  When I was making these, Blockette made a bigger stink about the smell of the vinegar than the actual stink.  Mrblocko was not brave enough to even try a taste.  Oh well.  You can't win 'em all.

The picture below is a half recipe.  It fits perfectly in one of those square 4 cup ziploc containers.

1/2 recipe pickled carrots makes 1.5 pints (Head over to Babble for the full recipe for
pickled carrots)
1/2 lb. of carrots, peeled. sliced into 4″ lengths and quartered
1 c water
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 Tsalt
1 T sugar
1/2 t brown mustard seeds
4 bay leaves
5 whole cloves
1/8 t red pepper flakes
pinch celery seed
2-3 smashed garlic cloves or a quartered onion (optional)

Wash and dry jars, rims, and lids.  Bring med pot of water to boil. Blanch carrots 1 min. Pack carrots in prepared jars. In same pan used for blanching, combine water, vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring heat up til  almost boiling and sugar dissolves. Pour over carrots, leaving 1/2″ head space. Distribute bay leaves, cloves, and garlic or onion, evenly between jars. Let liquid come to room temp and seal. Keep in frige for 1 week.