Carrot Tops

[mrbigjas]

So I had some carrots the other day, and I was thinking, why is it that people don't eat carrot greens very often? Other root vegetables: beet greens, turnip greens... hell, celery even, is the greens of a root vegetable (so to speak, I'm painting with a broad brush here; I know about the different kinds of celeries and all). So I ate some raw. They were nice. Bitter, but fresh tasting, not carroty in the same way beet greens taste beety. Didn't make me sick or anything. I'm going to make them more often.

A quick search on the web turned upmostly raw food, vegan, vegetarian, and other special-diet sites, but no "normal" ones. Therefore I would like to claim that if carrot greens become the next hip fad vegetable, you heard it here first.

[malcolmjolley]

I think carrots and parsley are from the same general family (I have a friend who is allergic to both and celery, also related).

Maybe we could begin by using them as a herb or garnish.

[tammylc]

We tried sauteeing some up at a Secret Society of Greens Eaters gathering, but found they were very tough when cooked. In our experience though, the raw greens tasting remarkably like carrot. After we cooked them they mostly tasted like the butter, cumin and salt we sauteed them in, though.

[Toliver]

Having done a Google search, apparently, there are a lot of people who use carrot greens when mixing food for their horses. Who knew?

One website says they can be added to salads or stir-frys or they can be dried and used like an herb (e.g. Parsley).

Another website says you can add them to soup stock.

Some other sites advised separating the greens from the carrots when storing them so the greens don't leech any moisture out of the carrots.

I did find two recipes using carrot greens:

Ris de Veau à L'Huile de Truffe (Crispy Veal Sweetbreads With Truffle Oil from Le Rêve, San Antonio) - the greens are used as part of a bouquet garni

Zweibrücker Linsensuppe (Two Bridges Lentil Soup)

Other than that, you're right, there's not much out there.

You are a trendsetter!

[stevea]

I've seen some Indian recipes (probably Madhur Jaffrey) for greens in which carrot greens (as well as radish greens) were included along with spinach, collards, etc. But I've never tried carrot greens on their own.

[Schneier]

I remember growing them as a kid by putting carrot tops in a pan of water. I don't remember them tasting very good.

[Wolfert]

The most popular spring couscous in central Tunisia is called Kuski Ffawwar. Celery leaves, wild fennel fronds, leeks, parsley and carrot tops are steamed for 30 minutes. The melange has a nice earthy flavor.

[Malawry]

Damn, and I wanted to declare broccoli stems as the next hip vegetable most people discard.

[jwagnerdsm]

Paula Wolfert

[polly]

One of the loveliest salads I've made came straight from a friends vegetable garden and contained carrot tops, baby beetroot leaves, snow pea tendrils and

nasturtiums.

Who throws away their broccoli stalks? the shame...

[TAPrice]

I have some carrots with lovely green tops. What can I do with these?

One friend suggested that I cook them down with bacon fat and onions. An ingredient in green gumbo was another suggested use.

Any ideas? They just look too good to throw away.

[highchef]

Well, there's this and where there's one recipe, there's bound to be more.

btw, someone told me just yesterday that carrots that you buy with the greens still attached were sweeter than the ones in the package..I guess thats because they're fresher??

[KarenSherwood]

Whatever soup stock I make, I always use carrots WITH their tops. I think they add a nice brightness to the flavor. Celery leaves are great, too.

[KendallCollege]

carrot tops...

1. functional, raw garnish.

2. addition to an herb salad or "mesclun" mix.

3. (repeated) great for stocks.

4. addition to a hearty soup like sausage/escarole, borscht, etc.,.

5. i wonder if it'd be interesting if it were dried and spun through a coffee grinder.

6. part of an herb compound butter, maybe.

.t.

[Live It Up]

gumbo z'herbes

yummy

[Joisey]

Completely OT, but when I was a kid I used to grow carrots in our backyard just because a certain butterfly (Black Swallowtail) would lay their eggs on the leaves. I always had a roomful of jars filled with carrot tops and happy caterpillars. It's a cool little experiment if you have kids, and the end result is gorgeous.

As far as cooking, I think that they would make a nice addition to flavor stocks, not sure how tasty they would be eaten as themselves.

[paul o' vendange]

I wonder what an oil from them would be like? I see some nice twin oils - bright orange and bright green.

Edited November 22, 2006 by paul o' vendange (log)

[davebrown]

Compost?

[KendallCollege]

carrot or carrot-top oil.

those oils might make nice poaching mediums, eh?

[ChefJohnny]

I cant really imagine how much "flavor" carrot tops can impart to a stock. But, I have done a carrot top puree. Used it as part of a vegan tasting menu. Just blanch the tops until they come apart when you rub them through your fingers and puree them with enough bottled still water for it to spin. Pass through a tamis and youre good to go.

-Chef Johnny

[KendallCollege]

I like that! great idea! what dish did you use them in?

t

Edited November 26, 2006 by KendallCollege (log)

[ChefJohnny]

I like that!  great idea!  what dish did you use them in?

t

←

I called it "Textures of Carrot". It was Carrot Agnolotti (Carrot farce in Fine herbs pasta dough), carrot top puree, carrot foam, and carrot powder. It was a great dish, now that I think about it. Anyway, it was the "pasta" course of a 9 course vegan menu we did a while back.

-Chef Johnny

EDIT : Just wanted to add, that we did make a vegan pasta dough, using egg substitute and soy milk and such. i just figured someone may point that out.

Edited November 26, 2006 by ChefJohnny (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

IIRC, On Hell's Kitchen, someone used raw carrot greens as a garnish and was told by Ramsey that the greens were too bitter to be edible. Is that only in the raw state? Once cooked, what do they taste like? I've never had the chance to try them, and they have pretty much stayed under my radar until this thread.

[Toliver]

A previous discussion on this topic:

"Carrot Greens, why doesn't anyone eat them?"

[KendallCollege]

I'd like to see entire menus written like that...

"an array of an ingredient".

cooked form.raw form garnish.form as powder.form as froth.form as puree.form as sauce.

"a study of the next ingredient".

its heated.its blended.its flowers.its greens."it" as a serving vessle.

do you know what i mean?

i absolutely LOVE that style of cooking.

we should explore/brainstorm that in a new topic..."an ingredient and its array, what would YOU do?".

fantastic.