Better than candy

Forget the Snickers, Crunch Bars, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I fill my candy bucket with these orange spears. Despite my foibles—forgetting to thin them, harvesting them in late October—they are scrumptious. Sweeter than any carrots I’ve bought at the grocery store, I find homegrown carrots rich in flavor. Carrots make there way into stir fry, soup, and salads at our house, but our favorite way to enjoy them is to cut them into 1/4-inch medallions, cook until tender and add a bit of butter, kosher salt, and brown sugar.

Carrots are members of the notorious dirty dozen—a list of 12 pesticide laden of fruits and vegetables compiled by the Environmental Working Group. Along with peaches, apples, and bell peppers, carrots in the produce section often contain traces of chemicals. This small fact makes growing them yourself even more enticing. Not only will your carrots be pesticide-free, they’ll also be flavor-rich.

Carrots were a plant-weed-forget vegetable in my garden this year. I planted the common variety ‘Danvers Half Long’ in late May. Growing 6 to 8 inches long and 2 inches thick at the shoulders, it’s perfect for multiple uses. I hesitate to plan shorter varieties such as ‘Thumbelina’ and ‘Short’n Sweet’ as I know I won’t bother to peel a 2-inch carrot.

Enjoying garden-fresh carrots until next March and beyond is as easy as scrubbing off the soil after planting, allowing them to dry, and then tucking them into plastic bags and storing them in the refrigerator.

Don’t worry the Halloween candy at our house will not go to waste! We’ll eat up all the Kit Kats right after we have a few carrots.