The carrots turned my soup purple!?

My blogging hiatus is over! Hello and welcome back to my cooking adventures!

I decided to make some chicken stock tonight.  Over the weekend, I visited my old farmer’s market in Clark Park to pick up our weekly vegetables.  With the bitter cold, it was hard to stroll each stand.  Though the crowd was small, the shivering vendors busily restocked baskets with local produce. Perhaps, really they just kept moving to forget how cold it was! As I examine each basket, I picked up some heirloom carrots.  

These wonderful purple, orange, and red variations are so ornate, and they retain such a pungent carrot-flavor when raw.  The sugar content is much less than the average store bought, and the purple variety has a sharp parsnip flare.  

For my stock, I took out my 3qt pot, filled it with carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, and chicken bones, and then covered with water. I added salt, pepper, nutmeg, cumin, and bay leaf. I brought the stock to a boil and then let simmer for an hour. 

Upon my return, the purple carrots leached their color! The flavor is there, and the carrots have mellowed in intensity.

I’ll definitely be getting some looks at lunch with my purple soup! With the remaining carrots that I have, I’ll roast them, and hopefully, the purple carrots will behave and not bleed!