tablespoonful of salt; carrots.
_Mode_.--Cut off the green tops, wash and scrape the carrots, and should
there be any black specks, remove them. If very large, cut them in
halves, divide them lengthwise into four pieces, and put them into
boiling water, salted in the above proportion; let them boil until
tender, which may be ascertained by thrusting a fork into them: dish,
and serve very hot. This vegetable is an indispensable accompaniment to
boiled beef. When thus served, it is usually boiled with the beef; a few
carrots are placed round the dish as a garnish, and the remainder sent
to table in a vegetable-dish. Young carrots do not require nearly so
much boiling, nor should they be divided: these make a nice addition to
stewed veal, &c.
_Time_.--Large carrots, 1-3/4 to 2-1/4 hours; young ones, about 1/2
hour.
_Average cost_, 6d. to 8d, per bunch of 18.
_Sufficient_,--4 large carrots for 5 or 6 persons.
_Seasonable_.--Young carrots from April to June, old ones at any time.
[Illustration: CARROTS.]
ORIGIN OF THE CARROT.--In its wild state, this vegetable is
found plentifully in Britain, both in cultivated lands and by
waysides, and is known by the name of birds-nest, from its
umbels of fruit becoming incurved from a hollow cup, like a
birds-nest. In this state its root is whitish, slender, and
hard, with an acrid, disagreeable taste, and a strong aromatic
smell, and was formerly used as an aperient. When cultivated, it
is reddish, thick, fleshy, with a pleasant odour, and a
peculiar, sweet, mucilaginous taste. The carrot is said by
naturalists not to contain much nourishing matter, and,
generally speaking, is somewhat difficult of digestion.
TO DRESS CARROTS IN THE GERMAN WAY.