How long do carrots last

Keep a whole carrot unwashed, and take the greens off if they are still attached. The tops pull water out of the root. FoodKeeper prints the fridge as 2–3 weeks. The bold number is two weeks. The line is named carrots and parsnips. The pantry is No time is printed for this cell. This page does not invent a counter day for the whole root. It also does not write a separate day once you cut it. Put the cut face in a closed box in the fridge. A sooner date on the pack wins. Date types are on the use-by and best-before guide.

Baby carrots are a different product. FoodKeeper prints the fridge as 4 weeks. That is four weeks. The pantry is 4 days, and the note says below 75°F. Those four days belong under that temperature. The whole row’s pantry cell is No time is printed for this cell; the baby’s four days are not pasted onto the whole root. Folding the two rows into one time is not this page’s job. Do not shut them in the same closed drawer as an apple. The carrot can turn bitter. If you are still unsure, the still-safe tool asks from the short end of the chart.

Get perishable food into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking it or bringing it home, and within 1 hour if the kitchen is above 32°C (90°F). USDA FSIS and Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry both publish that cutoff. A closed deep pot stays warm; a shallow box cools.

A chart is a window, not a verdict on the container in your hand. A sour smell, a slimy surface, or mould means it is finished, even on day one. This page is not medical advice.

• A soft, rubbery, slimy surface. A firm root that bends a little is not that.
• Mould, in a crack or at the tip. Eating around the mould does not rescue that carrot.
• A sour, fermented smell. The carrot’s earthy smell is not that.
• A wet collapse at the end. The thin white blush on a baby carrot is usually a dry patch; a slimy film is something else.

White blush on a baby carrot is a dry surface. Mould and a slimy layer are spoilage.

Blanch, portion, press out the air, and freeze. FoodKeeper prints the freezer as 10–12 months. The bold number is ten months. The ministry caps vegetables at 12 months. The line is not named carrot. The bold number is the shorter one. The months are about quality. USDA says food held continuously at −18°C (0°F) stays safe. The baby carrot’s freezer cell is 3 months. The bold number is three months. The ministry ceiling on that row is 12 months, and that line is not named carrot either. Do not paste the whole row’s 10–12 months onto baby carrots. FoodKeeper’s tip on the baby row is to blanch before freezing. This page does not invent a time for that blanch. The detail is in the freezer article.

Thaw in the fridge. Do not refreeze what has thawed. Frozen carrots are for a cooked dish. The snap of a raw stick does not come back. The steps are on the thawing tool.

Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Do not refreeze a portion that has thawed. The ministry states the same rule: thaw frozen food in the fridge and take out only what you will eat.

• A carrot keeps in the fridge as long as the freezer ceiling. The fridge is 2–3 weeks. The bold number is two weeks.
• Baby carrots take the whole root’s freezer time. The baby freezer is 3 months. The bold number is three months. The whole row is 10–12 months. That time is not pasted onto the baby row.
• The ministry ceiling is a use-by date named carrot. That is the vegetable ceiling, 12 months. The line is not named carrot. The bold number is ten months, 10–12 months. The months are about quality.

The windows assume a generally healthy household. Pregnancy, young children, older age, or a weakened immune system are reasons to keep the shorter figure, to skip raw or undercooked food, and to reheat leftovers until the centre is steaming. USDA’s figure for reheating leftovers is 74°C (165°F).

Heating a mouldy carrot does not undo mould. In pregnancy, for young children, in older age, or with a weakened immune system, do not sort a mouldy root by tasting it. A cut carrot is perishable. A stick that sat out warm is not made safe by soup. A carrot is not raw meat. Eating around the mould still does not rescue that root.