What to do with carrot tops?

David,
I'm greeting you with a question because... I can't greet you with homemade food.
What do you recommend with carrot tops? I feel they are drying energetically in my body. Mostly juice them/make stock. I would enjoy more ways of preparing them so I can trick children into eating them.
Thanks & blessings.

wow that is way more than I have at a time . I am finding there are so many non traditional greens that go to waste in our food system that I never used to think about . But with expenses of time and water getting the best use from every part of the garden is important .
I have discovered I rather like them as a green especially chopped up and simmered with radish greens or kale they cut the bitterness of the radish green ( a great mix is chard ,radish and carrot with a bit of garlic or onion. but I also used some in a soup last month and they gave color as well as a nice flavor . this year is the first time I have used them I was cutting them off as I washed carrots for dinner and I thought what do these taste like and went and looked it up ( this was our first decent carrot crop ) they could be frozen but I was also thinking because of the fineness of the leaf they could also be dried and used in soups , stews , mixed greens and vegetable base smoothies . I am thinking of trying some finely chopped in carrot cake/ or pumpkin bread to add fiber. Just have not had time lately or room in the freezer we do not eat sweets quickly so I freeze portions. has any one seen a nutrition chart for carrot green or some of the other underutilized plant parts ?

Now I wish I had taken pictures of the carrots I cooked over the last few days polar opposites of yours mine came out short and wide a few 2 1/2" + across the cut top but only 2 to 5" long
we had 6 weeks of almost no rain and they did not get attention . I am surprised they survived .
what type of soil do you have to grow such long carrots?

Hi Elizabeth,

Gorgeous carrots! I haven't used carrots much. That whole family (Apiaceae or umbelifers) is super flavorful (carrots, parsnips, celery, parsley, dill, cilantro, cumin, caraway, fennel, etc.) and very high in antioxidants. I'm not surprised that kids might need to be tricked into eating carrot tops. Without knowing anything of your dietary preferences I might suggest trying dehydrating the carrot tops, grinding them in a coffee mill or similar grinder and mixing them in with other foods that are better accepted. Working in the tropics, where admittedly kids can be less fussy about food because they are often hungry, we have had great acceptance from kids with green pasta (replace 20% of the flour with powder from dried carrot tops or other nutritious greens. Even better acceptance has been with dinosaur shaped cookies (works with frogs, Christmas trees, or any cookie cutter for something that is normally green. Hard to disguise the chlorophyll. Peanut butter balls with raisins and dried leaf powder rolled in shredded coconut also have had good acceptance as an easy to prepare high energy snack.

Good luck. Let me know if you come up with any especially good tricks.

Carrot tops and parsley, dried, then made into a tea, are nourishing and healing for the kidneys.

Susan Doyon wrote:wow that is way more than I have at a time .  I am finding there are so many non traditional greens that go to waste in our food system that I never used to think about . But with expenses of time and water getting the best use from every part of the garden is important .
 I have discovered I rather like them as a green especially chopped up and simmered with radish greens or kale they cut the bitterness of the radish green ( a great mix is chard ,radish and carrot with a bit of garlic or onion. but I also used some in a soup last month and they gave color as well as a nice flavor . this year is the first time I have used them I was cutting them off as I washed carrots for dinner and I thought what do these taste like and went and looked it up   ( this was our first decent carrot crop ) they could be frozen but I was also thinking because of the fineness of the leaf  they could also be dried and used in soups , stews , mixed greens and vegetable base smoothies . I am thinking of trying some finely chopped in carrot cake/ or pumpkin bread to add fiber. Just have not had time lately or room in the freezer we do not eat sweets quickly so I freeze portions.  has any one seen a nutrition chart for carrot green or some of the other underutilized plant parts ?

Now I wish I had taken pictures of the carrots I cooked over the last few days   polar opposites of yours mine came out short and wide a few 2 1/2" + across the cut top but only 2 to 5" long  
we had 6 weeks of almost no rain and they did not get attention . I am surprised they survived .
what type of soil do you have to grow such long carrots?

You are absolutely right, so many greens are just tossed away in the bin as food waste but the fact is that they can be actually used to prepare amazing dishes. I started using carrot green about 2 years ago. Earlier, I didn't even knew how they tasted but now I just love them. I make a very quick and simple dish.

I blanch the carrot greens and cut them and keep them separate then in another pot, I boil some potatoes and when they come to come down to room temperature, I slice them. Then I take another pan and put some oil in it and add some sesame seeds in it oil and then I just heat them a little. Then I mix both blanched (& cut) carrot greens and boiled (& sliced) potatoes and then add some seasoning in it (salt, pepper the usual) and pour the hot oil and sesame seed on it. Then I mix them all together and eat it. It really tastes amazing.

Edit - I read somewhere that carrot greens are very good for making hair healthy.