Chunky carrots

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Chunky carrots

Küttiger carrots are an old, robust Swiss carrot variety that originally comes from the Aargau village of Küttigen . They belong to the ProSpecieRara range .

Chunky carrots are rather large, conical in shape and white in color. Their taste is aromatic, earthy and hardly sweet.

history

The village of Küttigen was already known in the 19th century for its vegetables, which were regularly sold at the Aarau weekly market.

In traditional cultivation, the carrots were sown over the winter barley in winter. After the barley had been harvested with the scythe, the carrot plants, which were about 15 cm high at that time, were thinned out with the hoe and now had enough space and light until the harvest in October or November. From this type of cultivation they got their former name "Gerstenrüebli".

After the Küttiger carrots were almost forgotten in the twentieth century, they were "discovered" as an independent variety in the 1970s. The Küttiger Rural Women's Association has been responsible for the reproduction and conservation of the species since 1978.

Cultivation

Today the Küttiger carrots are sown in rows after the ice saints and harvested at the end of October or beginning of November. At the carrot market, which is held in Aarau on the first Wednesday in November, around 900 kg are sold, which usually find buyers very quickly. Every now and then you can find Küttiger carrots in a health food store, at a regional weekly market or at a wholesaler.

The seeds are produced by the Küttig farmers themselves, with strong selection as there is always the possibility that wild carrots have been crossed in the area. The most beautiful medium-sized carrots with only one root are selected. The leaves are cut down to a few millimeters and the seed carrots are placed in a hole in the ground after harvesting that has been lined with walnut leaves to prevent mice from being eaten . In March, the seed carrots are planted in the garden, sprout and form flowers and seeds. The ripe seed umbels are tied into bouquets and hung up to dry until next spring.

Culinary use

In the past, the Küttiger carrots were sold as horse feed as far as Zurich. [Reference?]

In the country, the carrots were often considered poor people's food. They were used to stretch potatoes in a stew. They were canned in the village as sour beets and eaten with black pudding and liver sausages or with apple compote during the winter. Another type of preservation was drying, whereby the cooked carrots were cut into stalks and then dried in the oven.

Today Küttiger carrots are a specialty in bite-sized pieces steamed with salt , pepper , garlic and onions seasoned. Together with green bacon and small potatoes, it becomes a stew .

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