Pickled Carrots

As I've mentioned before, I love pickled carrots, but I've never made them before. I passed a tiny jar in Safeway the other day and was appalled to see them marked for $8.99! Surely I could make them for much cheaper. I found a recipe in Rachael Ray's magazine, "Everyday with Rachael Ray," and thought I'd give it a shot. This is actually Michael Schlow's recipe, though I made a few small changes. His original recipe is to quick-pickle but I am using this for a longer-term pickling, so I'm jarring mine.

"Magic" Pickled Carrots
(I halved the recipe and this is the halved recipe below.)
Ingredients:
1 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup + 1/8 cup sugar
1 tbs salt (I used pickling salt)
3/4 tbs coriander seeds
3/4 tbs mustard seeds
1/2 tbs whole black peppercorns
4 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 tbs crushed red pepper flakes
5 large carrots, sliced into sticks

1. In a large, non-reactive saucepan, bring 1 cup water, the vinegar, sugar, salt, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, peppercorns, cloves and bay leaf to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the crushed red pepper and let steep for 5 minutes.
2. Place the carrots in a large stainless steel or glass bowl. (I jarred mine.) Add the hot pickling liquid, weighing the carrots down with a plate if necessary to submerge. Let sit until the mixture comes to room temperature. Serve the carrots with some of the liquid.

In a couple of days, I'm going to try these babies out. Spicy, a little sweet, soft, but still crunchy - they are the perfect snack!!