How Long Can Boiled Carrots Be Stored In The Refrigerator and Without?
Any hostess sooner or later will face the problem of storing finished products. How long can boiled carrots be stored in the refrigerator? Will it darken, will it not lose its juiciness? Can it be frozen? Should I peel it or leave it in the shell? Is it possible to cut ready-made carrots for storage into cubes, grate, mash, or is it better to leave the root crop whole? You will find answers to these questions in our article.
In a refrigerator
Everyone is familiar with the situation when surpluses remain during cooking: here the child did not finish the cutlet, a lot of vegetables were accidentally boiled here, a small amount of cottage cheese remained, etc.
To properly store food, you must follow certain rules for each type of product. Let’s talk about how to save excess boiled carrots for future dishes.
Agree, it’s convenient to have prepared foods for tomorrow’s diet: today you boiled carrots for Mimosa salad, taking into account the portion for okroshka planned for tomorrow.
Full-time moms often plan menus days in advance and use their time and resources wisely.
If you plan to use this boiled vegetable in some dish in the coming days (2-3 days, but not more than one week), which is not useful today, then the best option is a refrigerator.
How to Properly Cook Carrots:
- Wash the roots thoroughly;
- Place them in a pot of cold salted water;
- Bring to a boil;
- Cook for 20-35 minutes;
- Cool.
Proper Preparation For Storing In The Refrigerator:
- Take a food container with a tight lid;
- Cover the bottom with paper napkins;
- Put unpeeled boiled carrots in it;
- Close, put in the refrigerator;
- Wipes should be changed daily.
We remind you that the shelf life is no more than one week.
In the Freezer
For a long period (up to six months), it is better to put boiled carrots in the freezer. There are three storage options in the freezer:
- Whole fruits;
- In the form of puree;
- Slices (cubes).
The ideal option is blanching, it will allow the fruit to retain its juiciness, color, aroma and nutrients.
How to blanch carrots:
- Clean the roots.
- Grind in any way: cubes or slices.
- Prepare a pot of boiling water, a slotted spoon, a bowl of ice water, a colander, paper napkins.
- In boiling unsalted water, place the root vegetables cut into pieces for two minutes.
- With a slotted spoon, transfer the pieces of vegetables to ice water (use ice from the freezer).
- Using a colander, rid the roots of the water as much as possible, put the slices or cubes on paper napkins.
- After the carrots have dried, place them on trays or cutting boards, then put them in the freezer for a short time to pre-freeze (about 30 minutes).
- Take out the trays and boards with the work piece, arrange them in containers or zip-bags in portions.
- Put in the freezer (the option is suitable for winter preparations).
You can also freeze this root vegetable in the form of mashed potatoes. To save time and effort, young parents often resort to this option.
To prepare mashed potatoes, boil carrots (see above), turn them into mashed potatoes with a blender, freeze in portions in zip bags.
The least popular freezing option is whole fruits. But, if necessary, we will tell you how to keep the appearance of boiled frozen carrots.
It’s all about gentle defrosting – first move the zip bag or container with such vegetables not to the countertop of the kitchen set, but to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Once you can pierce the fruit with a fork, it is ready to eat.
It is better not to use a grated vegetable for freezing.
Storage conditions in the freezer: from -18°С to -23°С.
Without refrigerator
The shelf life of unpeeled boiled carrots at room temperature is no more than 8 hours. If it is peeled, you should immediately eat it.
If after a few hours mucus has formed on the root crops, they are unsuitable for consumption.
