MODERN COOKERY ELIZA ACTON

I am lucky enough to have a copy of a book published by Eliza Acton in 1845. It belonged to my Grandmother, who was a very English lady. I can only assume that it must have belonged to her mother . I was looking through it as its really interesting, Here is the Victorian way of boiling carrots exactly as it appears in the book.

TO BOIL CARROTS.

Wash the mould from them, and scrape the skin off lightly with the edge of a sharp knife, or, should this be objected to, pare them as thin and as equally as possible; in either case free them from all blemishes, and should they be very large, divide them, and cut the thick parts into quarters; rinse them well, and throw them into plenty of boiling water with some salt in it. The skin of very young carrots may be rubbed off like that of new potatoes, and from twenty to thirty minutes will then be sufficient to boil them; but at their full growth they will require from an hour and a half to two hours. It was formerly the custom to tie them in a cloth, and to wipe the skin from them with it after they were dressed; and old-fashioned cooks still use one to remove it; but all vegetable should, we think, be dished and served with the least possible delay after they are ready for table. Melted butter should accompany boiled carrots.

Very young carrots, 20 to 30 minutes. Full-grown ones, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Now I want to know, who cooks carrots for 2 hours!! and who dresses them!!! and mold!!

I for one am pleased I'm not eating Victorian prepared vegetables.