For many winters now, I’ve been growing fava beans in the hop containers on our patio, but I recently had a flash of insight. We’ve had very few hop cones develop the last few summers: Could it be that the beans were providing too much nitrogen to the soil? If so, that could cause the hops to spend more energy making leaves, rather than fruit. Well, my M.O. is always to experiment, so this past winter I grew carrots in the hop containers instead.
I chose a mix called ‘Rainbow,’ because I like having the different colors to eat. In nature, carrots were originally white or very pale yellow. 5,000 years ago, yellow and purple carrots were developed in the Persian plateau. Then in the 1500s, orange carrots were hybridized by the Dutch. According to LiveScience, “Flash forward a couple of centuries and the Dutch were one of the main agricultural forces of 16th-century Europe. This know-how allowed them to propagate orange carrots in large quantities, which seemed to thrive in the Netherlands' mild, wet weather.” However, they were not grown to honor the Dutch royal family - that’s an urban myth.
The purple color is an anthocyanin, which has antioxidant benefits. The orange color is a carotenoid, which has heart benefits. So the mix of colors is great for your mood and your health.
Today I noticed that the hop bines (hops are not vines, but bines) are starting to sprout, so I knew that it was time to harvest the carrots, even if they were smaller than I would like. I hoped that the carrot roots would break up the soil in the containers a bit, allowing for better airflow to the hop roots. I can only imagine that this happened, because I had a great crop of baby carrots, in a lovely rainbow of color. I gave their greens to the chickens, who adore them.
hops emerging
Roasting the carrots (about two pounds worth) in a honey garlic butter sauce, with thyme, in a high-heat oven, truly couldn’t be any easier, and the honey, garlic, and thyme are all provided by the garden.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt half a stick of butter. Add three cloves of minced garlic, a couple tablespoons of honey, and some salt and pepper. Let that meld while you trim the carrots and add to a cookie sheet, attempting to make the carrots roughly the same size. No need to peel them - that skin is a great source of fiber. Toss the carrots with the butter sauce, and sprinkle some fresh-chopped thyme over the top (1-2 tablespoons, depending how much you like thyme!). Very fresh carrots won’t need as much roasting time as older, store-bought carrots will, and of course the size will also dictate how long you leave them in the oven. Aim for a caramelized appearance, with some browning. Leftovers can be popped into glass containers and stashed in the freezer.