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Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:36 pm
by Shule
So, a while back, I noticed that raw carrots and cheese when eaten together taste delicious. I prefer the taste to other, similar food combinations, like celery and peanut butter, apples and peanut butter, etc.
I'm really surprised I hadn't noticed this earlier. I'm guessing they'd go great together in salads, too. I'm envisioning shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, white mushrooms, iceburg lettuce, and lots of other stuff.
Nutrition-wise, it's also great, because the fat from the cheese should help make the beta carotene more usable by the body.
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:44 pm
by bower
I admit to being a cheddar freak. Add cheese to any snack and, hey presto! Better snacks.
Not sure if the carrots in my larder are still worthy of being eaten raw, but I'd be willing to try a carrot slice with cheese
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:51 pm
by Tormahto
A few decades ago, I read that carrots need to be cooked to be more usable by the body. I don't know if that is true. Also I read that carrots were about the only veggie (that is edible raw) that increases in nutritional value with cooking. Me, I eat the great tasting carrots (rare, outside of the ones from the garden) raw, the rest of the carrots cooked. The great tasting ones are mostly just munched on, and sometimes shredded in a salad.
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:30 pm
by bower
Nutritionally carrots are very close to tomatoes, which are also said to be more usable when cooked!
Carotenes and lycopene are oily colors. They are released in a bit of oil and made more digestible - cooking or dressing, or as Shule pointed out, cheese.
Personally I firmly believe that carotenes are only digestible if they have sugars attached. Cooking turns more of their carbs to sugars. And there's adding honey - which I often do especially and for sure if they're not the sweetest carrots.
I believe the best carrots on earth are grown here in NL. Cool temperatures, kelp ferts, makes for a very sweet chantenay.
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:18 am
by GoDawgs
Shule wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:36 pm
So, a while back, I noticed that raw carrots and cheese when eaten together taste delicious. I prefer the taste to other, similar food combinations, like celery and peanut butter, apples and peanut butter, etc.
I'm really surprised I hadn't noticed this earlier. I'm guessing they'd go great together in salads, too. I'm envisioning shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, white mushrooms, iceburg lettuce, and lots of other stuff.
Nutrition-wise, it's also great, because the fat from the cheese should help make the beta carotene more usable by the body.
Here's a recipe for a carrot spread that we really like. It's something that you might could fiddle with, like maybe substitute half of the cream cheese with shredded cheddar, etc. I wouldn't eliminate the cream cheese as it provides the spreadability. Maybe just keep all the cream cheese and add chedder?
Nutty Carrot Spread
¼ cup pecans, finely chopped
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 TBS frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 cup carrot, shredded
¼ cup raisins
Toast pecans in a frying pan until fragrant or roast 10 minutes @ 350. Cool and chop.
Combine cream cheese, orange juice concentrate and cinnamon until smooth.
Stir in carrots, pecans and raisins.
Refrigerate for several hours to blend the flavors and plump the raisins.
Great with pita chips or toasted party pumpernickel bread.
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:46 am
by Tormahto
Bower wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:30 pm
Nutritionally carrots are very close to tomatoes, which are also said to be more usable when cooked!
Carotenes and lycopene are oily colors. They are released in a bit of oil and made more digestible - cooking or dressing, or as Shule pointed out, cheese.
Personally I firmly believe that carotenes are only digestible if they have sugars attached. Cooking turns more of their carbs to sugars. And there's adding honey - which I often do especially and for sure if they're not the sweetest carrots.
I believe the best carrots on earth are grown here in NL. Cool temperatures, kelp ferts, makes for a very sweet chantenay.
One of my new neighbors is going to love to hear about the attached sugars. When I first met him, he had just moved into his house, and was in the process of completely reconstructing the outside property. I asked him about what he would like to grow. It was yellow raspberries, sugar snap peas, pears, melons, watermelons, sweet corn, etc..
I knew, and told him, that he has a serious "sweet tooth". He agreed. I asked him about what he likes to eat outside of what he grows. The subject got to carrots, and he said he likes them when they are sweet, but never knows what he's getting when buying them. I asked him if he knows about honey-glazed carrots, He said no. I said, look up recipes on the internet, and you will not be disappointed when you taste them.
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:51 am
by Tormahto
GoDawgs wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:18 am
Shule wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:36 pm
So, a while back, I noticed that raw carrots and cheese when eaten together taste delicious. I prefer the taste to other, similar food combinations, like celery and peanut butter, apples and peanut butter, etc.
I'm really surprised I hadn't noticed this earlier. I'm guessing they'd go great together in salads, too. I'm envisioning shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, white mushrooms, iceburg lettuce, and lots of other stuff.
Nutrition-wise, it's also great, because the fat from the cheese should help make the beta carotene more usable by the body.
Here's a recipe for a carrot spread that we really like. It's something that you might could fiddle with, like maybe substitute half of the cream cheese with shredded cheddar, etc. I wouldn't eliminate the cream cheese as it provides the spreadability. Maybe just keep all the cream cheese and add chedder?
Nutty Carrot Spread
¼ cup pecans, finely chopped
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 TBS frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 cup carrot, shredded
¼ cup raisins
Toast pecans in a frying pan until fragrant or roast 10 minutes @ 350. Cool and chop.
Combine cream cheese, orange juice concentrate and cinnamon until smooth.
Stir in carrots, pecans and raisins.
Refrigerate for several hours to blend the flavors and plump the raisins.
Great with pita chips or toasted party pumpernickel bread.
Now I know what to do with the 10 pounds of pecans that I was gifted. Make that 8 pounds, as the first two pounds went to the chipmunks when they emerged in early spring.
Re: Raw carrots and cheese
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 6:06 am
by worth1
I like to drive the moisture out of nuts in a kettle of heated oil.
It gives a light toasting that is very even.
The oil comes in as a plus because it takes on the flavor of the nuts.
This in turn is good on salads.
With cooking oil and salt are your friends done in moderation.
The oil coats the tongue and helps spread out the flavors.
Salt enhances the flavors.