Did I blanch baby-cut carrots correctly?

Question

The Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library suggests blanching 3/4 lb baby carrots for crudités in boiling salted water until bright orange, about 15 s. I added a tablespoon of salt to almost four quarts of water and blanched almost 2 lb of baby-cut carrots for 15 s. They didn't change color in this time, but they seemed bright orange from the start. After shocking in ice water and draining, I tasted the blanched carrots against the original raw carrots. They tasted roughly the same. Maybe the blanched ones were slightly less bitter but I'm not sure I would consistently say that in a blind taste test. What difference in taste should I have noticed?

Did I do something wrong? Should I have left them in the boiling water for longer than 15 s? The National Center for Home Food Preservation suggests 5 min for small carrots, but that's for a freezing application rather than raw consumption.

Answer

My guess is that you dropped 2lb of carrots into the water. This drops the water temperature under the boiling-simmering point. So, you're not blanching correctly. You should have taken about 3/4lb portions and blanched them successively. (Or you should have used more water on a bigger stove top.)

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