Background
Polish Carrot Salad is probably the most classic side dish in Poland. You will struggle to find a typical restaurant in Poland that doesn’t serve this with meat based, main dishes.
Although carrots came into Europe around the 14th century. Poland’s recorded use of carrots only begins in the 16th century. Believed to have been imported for the first time by Queen Bona Sforza. As part of her introduction of Italian cuisine after arriving in 1518.
Carrots at the time weren’t anything like they are today, being bitter, sharp and somewhat woody in flavour. Even the colour of the carrots was different, usually being purple, yellow, white, or red. Thus the consumption of raw carrots wasn’t common until after the 17th century when Dutch farmers created the milder, sweeter, orange carrot breed that we know today.
Even though Orange carrots had a better taste and agricultural stability. They weren’t widely used in Poland until the late 18th century. Unsurprisingly, records show it wasn’t until the early 19th century that this side dish starts to soar in popularity. Becoming one of 3 key classical salads that are cherished in Poland to this day.
Ingredients
| – 500g (1.1 lbs ) of Carrots – Around 300g (10.5 oz) of Apples – 85g (3 oz) of 12% sour cream or Natural plain yogurt – 2 Tablespoons of Lemon juice – 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt & Pepper |
Preparation
- Wash & peel the Carrots
- Wash & peel the Apples
Method
Grate the carrots
Before grating I recommend your carrots are at room temperature. As they will be much easier to work with than those straight out of the fridge. In a large mixing bowl, grate the carrots on the finest cut setting. You can also use a food processor for this if you have one.
Grate the Apples
I use Reneta or Jonagold apples for this recipe. If these aren’t available where you are its ok, just aim to use apples that are balanced between sweet and tart in flavour, for the best traditional experience. If you only have sweet apples they will work too, but if you want to keep the savoury aspect of the dish. Then grate in around 10cm (4 inches) worth of raw leak to balance it out.
I strongly recommend avoiding cooking type apples for this recipe. They will work negatively with the lemon juice and just overwhelm the dish, squinting the eyes of all who are brave enough to try it.
On the largest cut setting (the same setting for thickly grated cheese), grate the apples into the same bowl as the carrots.
Season and Mix
Add the yogurt or sour cream, 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper, before mixing thoroughly. Be sure to taste test and add more seasoning as need. If you have a lot of excess juices, its completely normal. Just stir the salad well before serving.
Lastly, if your making this salad in advance of an event. Keep in mind the apples will significantly brown more, as each day passes. However, this will only affect the appearance.
Serving
This Salad is served with any meat dishes in Poland. Its also an excellent complement to barbecues.
Storage
If refrigerated in an airtight food safe container, within an hour of mixing. Then up to 3 days should be possible for storing.