Compare prices for fresh carrots across Edmonton retailers.
Carrots do not ripen or sweeten after harvest, so the root in the bin is as good as it will ever be and the whole task is choosing a fresh one. Pick carrots that are firm and rigid — a fresh carrot is stiff and snaps cleanly rather than bending — with smooth skin, a deep even orange, and a straight, well-filled shape. Pass over any that are limp, flabby, or rubbery, that are cracked or split, that carry soft or slimy patches, or that have begun to grow fine, hairy rootlets, all of which signal age or stress. Avoid roots with a large green or dark patch at the crown: these green shoulders form when the top of the root pushes above the soil into sunlight, they taste bitter, and they are best trimmed away or left behind. If the carrots still have their leafy tops, fresh, perky greens are a good sign the root was pulled recently, while wilted or yellowing tops point to older stock.
Every carrot is ready to eat the moment it is bought, so having good carrots later in the week is a matter of storage rather than ripening. Remove any leafy tops before storing, because the greens keep drawing moisture out of the root and wilt it within a day or two; then keep the carrots cold and humid, loosely bagged in the refrigerator crisper, which holds them firm and crisp for several weeks — commercial storage runs near 0 °C at very high humidity, and a plastic bag is the simplest way to mimic that at home. Keep carrots away from apples, pears, and other ripening fruit, because they are highly sensitive to the ethylene these give off, and even a small amount over a couple of weeks turns them bitter. A carrot that has gone limp but is otherwise sound has only lost water and is not spoiled — a soak in cold water will usually crisp it back up, and it remains fine for cooking.
A carrot is past its useful window when it turns soft, slimy, or mushy, smells sour, or shows black spots or fuzzy grey mould, all of which mean it should be discarded rather than trimmed. A white, dried-out film on the surface, common on cut and "baby" carrots, is only dehydration rather than spoilage, and those carrots are still safe to eat as long as they remain firm. In Edmonton the main cold-weather caution is freezing: carrots keep beautifully in the cold but are injured at about -1 °C and below, where the flesh develops a water-soaked ring that blackens within a few days, so a bag left in a sub-zero vehicle, an unheated garage, or pressed against the back wall of the fridge will thaw soft and off-coloured. Bring them indoors promptly in winter and keep them cold but never frozen.
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