Old Fashioned Carrot Pudding

Save, rinse, and thoroughly wash vegetable or soup cans for several weeks prior to making this recipe. You will need about half a dozen cans. Allow butter to warm to room temperature. Grate carrots and peeled potatoes into mixing bowl. Sift together into bowl flour, soda, and spices, stirring slowly into grated vegetables. Add softened butter and stir in. Slowly stir in sugar. Let batter rest for 5 minutes and stir in walnuts, fruit, and citron before spooning into cans, tapping to elminate air pockets. Fill cans 2/3 full. Do not overfill, because batter will expand when cooked. Cover tops of cans with aluminum foil and place on rack in 2-3 inch water bath in large pot. Steam at high simmer for 2 hours, making sure that cans are not touching the bottom or sides of the steamer pot. Serve piping hot with hard sauce (very traditional, recipe is in Joy of Cooking, but to me it's sickenly oversweet) or high quality vanilla ice cream (which we prefer now). This pudding can be steamed ahead of time and kept covered and refrigerated for several days, but it should be heated piping hot just before serving.