December 26th, 2007

Filed under:
Mixed Bag

What is the Culinary History of Serrated Carrots?

First off, what’s the correct term for those kind of ribbed carrot slices? Is there a charmingly-named cutting technique? You know, something like ‘julienned’.

You often see these serrated carrots in bags of frozen vegetables. I was looking at one the other day in my chicken pot pie and wondering “what possessed someone to give this carrot a serrated edge?” It feels like a very 1950s, Good Housekeeping kind of innovation, but that’s mere speculation.

And, come to think of it, why is the carrot unique (is it?) in this treatment? I can’t think of any other vegetables which regularly get serrated.

I did some quick web searches, but drew a blank. Anyone?

UPDATE: You know you’ve hit the big-time when the curator of the World Carrot Museum drops by to comment. That’s three kinds of awesome.

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Comments: 8 Responses so far

I’ve seen cauliflower cut that way.

TTFN
Travis

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http://www.creativecookware.com/images/food%20mill%20stainless%20parts%201.JPG

Do you mean a waffle blade like this one? They are usually one of the blades that comes with a mandolin.

I’ve seen pickles sliced this way as well.

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Oh common on you all. Potatoes! (Rippled potato chips). They’re my favorites when eating chips. Ripples have rrriiigggesss.

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Alex: That may, in fact, be the device that does it. Indeed, pickles do get cut that way.

Richgold: Hmm…while technically correct, I’d say that rippled potato chips exist in a different culinary zone than sliced carrots.

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How strange that I had this same conversation yesterday and all I could think of was cauliflower.

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According to my co-worker friend the serrated carrot (crinkle cut_ decreases the carrot’s cooking time. Typically, carrots take a long time to cook therefore the carrot is the only vegetable with the crinkle cut.

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Nicki: I like that theory. You create more surface area on the carrots (and make them thinner), so they cook faster.

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I feel it was solely to make them more pleasant for kids to eat, and arrived about the same time a crinkle cut chips.

The surface area theory only saves a miniscule of time.

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