A rather self-confident vegetable.
- At June 10, 2010
- By Molly Chester
-
6
Farm to Table recipe #2 – I’m humming along! Possibly obviously, this recipe is heading for the Carrot Episode. Having entered the kitchen with a clear mental picture and a sketched out recipe, I focused on mom’s old Vanilla Cornstarch Pudding recipe with the addition of a light creamy orange hue, imparted by fresh-squeezed carrot juice, maybe a few toasted almond slices on top. My milk would be raw and rich maple crystals would replace the dreaded white sugar. Lastly, I switched the namesake cornstarch to arrowroot, mainly for nutritional reasons. Cornstarch, always a refined product, is rather void of minerals, whereas arrowroot, naturally unrefined, is a starch obtained from the root of a tropical plant that is chock full of calcium, plus rich minerals of the sea. In addition, arrowroot digests well and actually soothes the stomach, whereas, corn allergies run rampant these days.
Now that I’ve got you all jazzed up, I learned a few things after my FOURTH attempt at Carrot Pudding:
1) Carrot, a rather self-confident vegetable, actually prefers the bright orange color of its natural flesh. He’s not going to give you a bit of flavor unless his favorite color joins the party. Period. There is no lighter or better hue in the eyes of our dear friend carrot.
2) With the flavor of carrot, maple crystals are capital D – Delicious.
3) Arrowroot becomes slightly snotty when used to dramatically thicken milk.
With this deeper understanding, I shifted gears. If we were going deep orange and maple, I became drawn to the flavors of carrot cake. Whereas a creamy, delicate, muted orange seemed a natural partner for the ecru flesh of a sliced almond, a vibrant orange pudding seemingly yearned for the walnuts and raisins of a traditional carrot cake, a generous amount of them, in fact.
As for arrowroot, snotty isn’t quite as terrible as the word implies, but I came to miss the clean break a spoon makes when sliding into a traditional cornstarch pudding. Arrowroot creates a high-gloss texture reminiscent of Nickelodeon GAK. It works, so if you do happen to be allergic to cornstarch, please sub arrowroot for a still-delicious and ultimately more nutritious dessert. But I chose to return to my roots for this recipe, which happen to be made of cornstarch. (As a side note, if ever making a chocolate pudding, I could see arrowroot’s glossy thick texture being delightful.)
Click HERE for the Carrot Pudding recipe…
xo – Organic Spark
country girl
This sounds interesting! I wouldn't know where to find maple flakes, so I'm guessing I could substitute with brown sugar??
Yum!
Molly Chester
Brown sugar may work. It might make it a little bit dark in color. And if you were going brown sugar, I would try Sucanat, if you have that available to you.
The original recipe just used white sugar, so evaporated cane sugar certainly would substitute.
xo
Sippity Sup
I love your creative style. GREG
Janis
Do you think this would work OK with soured raw didn't-drink-it-in-time milk? Keep in mind my family won't drink even slightly sour milk so I have to hide it if I'm going to use it.
Molly Chester
Greg – THANK YOU! What a kind comment.
Janis – You know… I'm not sure, but I am guessing – yes. It is a strong flavored pudding, and I think the sweet would mask the sour flavor. But, if you try, please let me know. I'd love to hear how it turns out. Hopefully successfully!
xo
Deliciously Organic
Looks delicious! I love the new summer layout too!