Carrots with honey and thyme

These pickled carrots have a fresh sweet-and-sour flavour from vinegar and honey, with thyme adding a herbal note. They are refrigerator pickles: the carrots are not heat-processed for preserving and must be kept refrigerated.

Yield: approximately 4 jars of 400–500 ml
Preparation: approximately 15 minutes
Cooking: approximately 15 minutes
Resting time: at least 24 hours in the refrigerator
Total time: approximately 30 minutes, plus at least 24 hours resting time

Ingredients

• 1 kg carrots
• 500 ml water
• 500 ml vinegar
• 60 g honey
• 15 g salt
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme

Preparation

1. Clean the jars
   Thoroughly clean and sterilise four glass jars with tight-fitting lids. Leave them to drain without touching the insides.
2. Prepare the carrots
   Peel the carrots and cut them into even slices approximately 5 mm thick.
3. Prepare the thyme
   Briefly rinse the sprigs of thyme and pat them dry.

Method

1. Blanch the carrots
   Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the carrot slices and blanch them for approximately 3 minutes. They should soften slightly but still remain clearly firm.
2. Drain the carrots
   Drain the carrots and leave them to drain briefly.
3. Make the brine
   Put the water, vinegar, honey and salt in a saucepan. Bring to the boil while stirring until the honey and salt have completely dissolved.
4. Fill the jars
   Divide the warm carrots between the clean jars. Place one sprig of thyme in each jar.
5. Add the hot brine
   Pour the hot brine over the carrots until they are completely submerged. Leave a small amount of space at the top of each jar.
6. Seal the jars
   Seal the jars and leave them to cool until they are no longer hot.
7. Let the carrots infuse
   Place the jars in the refrigerator and leave the carrots to infuse for at least 24 hours before serving.
8. Keep the carrots refrigerated
   Keep the carrots refrigerated at all times and make sure they remain submerged in the brine as much as possible. Preferably use them within approximately 1 week.

These carrots are intended solely as refrigerator pickles and are not suitable for storage at room temperature.