Carrots were utilized a lot during WW2..
They were promoted as a secret weapon against the enemy enabling pilots to see in the dark and civilians on the home-front were encouraged to eat up their carrots to help them see during the black-out and children warmed to “Doctor Carrot”- the children’s best friend.
Carrots were also rather sweet when cooked and used as a replacement for sugar or other foodstuffs in short supply because of the decrease in imported goods.
Today I tried carrots in a “mock apricot flan” recipe from the Ministry of Food. It was incredibly sweet and perfectly acceptable and I’m sure rather popular during WW2. I made mine into small mini-flans and served them with some mock cream
Mock apricot flan
- 1 lb finely grated young carrots
- 4 drops almond essence
- 4 tablespoons of plum jam (6 tablespoons in North America)
- 4 tablespoons water (6 tablespoons in North America)
- Shortcrust pastry/oatmeal pastry/potato pastry
Method
- Line a large 9 inch flan dish or pie dish with shortcrust pastry (or make small individual pies like I did)
- Bake without filling in a moderate oven for 25 minutes until golden brown
- Meanwhile place the grated carrots, jam, water and almond essence into a saucepan
- Bring to a simmer and cook gently and stir for around 20 minutes until you achieve a thick pulp
- Spoon into the cooked flan case and return to oven for 5 minutes
- Serve with custard or mock cream
I have a recipe for carrot jam – which was often called ‘Arabian Jam’ or ‘Angel Hair Jam’ apparently! [presumably the long golden strands of grated carrot were meant to look like angel hair]
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That looks nice.
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Roll on, Saturday – cooking day! I’m going to make this, plus Lord Woolton pies, using potato scone dough as pastry, and probably the prune flan too.
Carolyn, you are looking more amazing all the time, so happy and healthy, and obvious weight loss.
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Thank you Suzanne- you are too kind! Mmmm I loved those potato scones- you talking about those again makes me want to make a bunch again. I’ll have to check my rations!!
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I remember my old granny making this. And we weren’t even in wartime. Thanks for the blast from the past.
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