Canning Carrot Fennel Soup

So the past few days I have been turning a 25 lbs. bag of carrots into Carrot Fennel soup.  I LOVE this soup.  Not only is it really good but it is so handy to have for a quick dinner (especially after soccer practice ).  I just open up a couple of quarts of soup and serve it with some homemade bread or grilled cheese.

You’ll need

2 bulbs of fennel (sometimes it will be labeled anise)

2 TB of olive oil

4 lbs. of carrots

6 cups of veggie broth

6 cups of water

1 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of white pepper (optional)

Directions:

Chop your fennel and sauté in a large stock pot with 2 TBS of olive oil. After the fennel is transparent, but not brown add the carrots and veggie broth.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat simmer until veggies are tender.  Then puree in  a blender or I use my stick blender and avoid the mess. Once the soup is super smooth add 6 cups of water, salt and pepper, bring to boil again, reduce heat and simmer for 30 min.  When finished fill clean quart size jars leaving 1 inch of head space and process at 10 lbs. of pressure for 35 min.  Pressure canning can be intimidating for a beginner but once you get the hang of it, it really isn’t that big of a deal, and as long as you follow the directions it’s perfectly safe.  So be brave and give it a try!

  Since I use the entire 25 lbs. (5.99 at Cash and Carry) bag of carrots to make soup I just divide them into 6 piles. (yes I know 4 X 6 is really 24 and not 25 but close enough)

Instead of buying veggie broth I always just use this.  One box makes 2 batches of soup.

I love finding jars that have awesome pictures on them like this one.

So 25 lbs. of carrots made 26 quarts of soup.  According to the recipe it should have made 36 quarts but I have never had it make that much.

RANDOMNESS

If you’re going to make this soup I would suggest growing fennel yourself, because it’s kind of expensive to buy and it’s super easy to grow. PLUS fennel is a bulb so it keeps coming back every year without replanting. 

ENJOY!!