The Scientific Reason Boiled Carrots Lose A Lot Of Flavor

Of all the ways in which we can prepare vegetables, boiling is perhaps the worst thing we can do to them. While it's not necessarily true that boiling vegetables reduces the efficacy of their nutrients, it is true that some of the chemical compounds responsible for their flavors tend to leak into the water as they boil. This is especially noticeable in carrots. Boiled carrots don't have that beautiful crunch that makes raw carrots so appealing, they also lose much of their natural sweetness when they are boiled. 

According to food scientists, carrots naturally contain sugars like sucrose, glucose, and fructose, and nutrients including beta carotene for vitamin A, plus vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, potassium, and fiber, all of which can be diluted into the boiling water. On the other hand, when they are steamed, sauteed, or roasted, their sweetness and flavors are enhanced. That's because cooking carrots forms lipid droplets which contain many of their flavor compounds, therefore increasing their flavor intensity. 

The sweetness and texture of carrots will, of course, depend on the cooking method and intended result. If you want vibrantly orange carrot sticks for your crudité tray, blanching them quickly will enhance their color and flavor while retaining most of their crunch. If you're serving them as a side dish such as the trendy "melting carrots," roasting them will yield beautifully tender, caramelized carrots. The flavor and sweetness will intensify during roasting, and as the natural sugars brown, the carrots will caramelize nicely while retaining some of their bite.

Now that you know that boiling carrots doesn't make sense at the chemical level, its time to up your roasted carrot game. Roasting carrots is just as easy as boiling them and the results are myriad times better. Plus, you can upgrade roasted carrots by adding various ingredients and seasonings. 

Roasted carrots play well with other vegetables and herbs from their same botanical family, such as parsnips, celeriac (they are absolutely brilliant when roasted together), parsley, cumin, dill, and fennel (both the vegetable and the seed.) You can glaze them with honey or cider to enhance their sweetness, and they are especially nice when complemented with ginger and orange. Or you can add a contrasting tangy and spicy twist with just two ingredients. 

For the viral melting carrots, you simply need a two-step approach. It's a French technique in which you brown the carrots on high heat in a deep pan until they caramelize, then add the liquid of your choice and simmer on low heat until tender and fully cooked. Searing, as we've seen, releases those lipid droplets that deepen the flavor, and finishing them in the braise gives them that silky, "melting" texture.