Don't use the bags of 'baby' carrots, they never taste right (to me anyway). Much better to use real carrots and cut them into chunks.

I've found that carrots take longer to look in a slow cooker than meats and some other veggies. Try pre cooking them first...either steaming or boiling before putting them in to the slow cooker.

I agree with Pauline....those bags of "baby carrots" are really old tough carrots sanded down to be a small size. I avoid them at all costs.
Tell your mom to try real carrots with the peel on, peel, cut up and then cook. There's a world of difference.

Thanks everyone!

I'll be sure to tell her! I knew baby carrots were cut down regular carrots but I didn't know that they were old!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

If you cut carrots lengthwise into halves or quarters (depending on the size of the carrot), then cut to the length you want for serving, it exposes the tough center fiber to the cooking liquids, or steam, and they will cook quicker and be more tender.

I agree with everyone about so-called "baby carrots", but mostly dislike them because they are a big rip-off in the cost department and dislike their "interesting" flavor.

For every extra pair of hands it takes to manufacture a product or the more processed it is from the original, you'll get to pay more for it. Just where do you get a carrot shaper (and does it look like a pencil sharpener - but for carrots) and a sander for them? The shaping and "buffing" will certainly cause these carrots to lose nutrients.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Carrot and Shtick

Moonwolf, make sure the carrots are on the bottom of the bowl, and the meat on top. Veggies take longer to cook than the meat in slow-cookers.

A few minutes in the pressure cooker is all it takes to make any carrot tender.

I don't use those "baby" carrots because they seem to last forever in the refrigerator. I am not sure what they have done to them.

dcarch

There's a lot of misinformation out there. There are baby carrots and babycut carrots. There's a difference in price of course but the baby carrots are fine and happen to like them.

cynic is well informed. There are indeed two kinds of little carrots:

Baby-cut carrots are made by cutting regular carrots in short lengths and shaping them in a peeling machine, which is an abrasive lined rotating drum with water washing away the debris. This method of peeling is used for commercial processing of potatoes and other root crops for canning and freezing. There is nothing about it which would necessarily produce an inferior carrot. Baby-cut carrots are sometimes made from carrots whose size, shape or blemishes makes them unsalable as whole carrots but the carrots are fresh and crisp.

Baby carrots are harvested at a small size and peeled the same way. Varieties of carrots have been bred especially for this purpose which are sweeter and brighter in color. They are promoted as a healthy snack food.

Jim