Eat your carrot greens for immunity and longevity

By Sari Huhtala

If you haven’t harvested your crop of carrots yet this year, be sure to save those nutrient-dense carrot tops for antioxidant-rich health boosting throughout the winter. Aside from freezing them and adding them to soups and stews, you can dehydrate them for future use in smoothies, salads, sauces and more.

Over 10 years ago researchers studied the antioxidant capacity of carrot greens as a natural alternative to the potentially harmful chemicals like BHA and BHT preservatives used by the food industry. Scientists discovered carrot leaves are not only rich in vitamin C, B-carotene, fibre and minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron and potassium, but have powerful antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds to boost human health, according to the study Carrot leaves: Antioxidative and nutritive values, which appeared in the Journal of Food and Dairy Sciences.

Carrot greens, aside from being a fabulous source of polyphenols, are also rich in essential fatty acids linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids, vital for human health for regulating hormones, immunity and the central nervous system, scientists say.

If dehydrating the leaves, dry them at about 115 degrees F, which maintains its nutrients as a raw food, for about eight hours for long-term storage. Once dried, grind to create a powder and store in a glass jar with a lid. Add 1 tsp to smoothies, bone broth or even into herbal teas, sprinkle over your salad for a burst of vitamin C, or sprinkle it onto a pizza for extra nutrition.

Fresh greens can even be used to create a pesto.

Freezing the greens is as simple as tossing them into a baggie for future use.

I like to add them into the fold of my freezer bag full of veggie scraps, which will eventually be simmered into a nutrient-dense broth for soups and stews.

This year I grew a lot of radishes, but avoided harvesting all of them so that I could continually snip off the leaves and regrow more nutrient-dense radish leaves. Next year I’m going to run around snipping the carrot tops off to regrow a second batch of goodness!

Sari Huhtala is the creator, publisher and editor of Alive and Fit Magazine, which was created in 2007.  She has over 25 years of experience in journalism and over 15 years of experience as a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor, and is a holistic chef, offering holistic cooking and edible wilds workshops. She is an organic farmer, wild-crafter and grandmother, who has spent over 20 years navigating a holistic, healthy path for her family. Reach her at friends@thelaughingforest.ca