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10 Things You Didn't Know About Carrots

The orange veggie is more complex than you thought

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BY LINNEA COVINGT ON
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Nov 24, 2014 9:00 am

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T he 88-percent water, seeded, healthful root vegetable has a colorful history.

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Whether you are talking about wild or domestic carrots, chances are this

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is one of your favorite vegetables. Belonging to the species daucus carota,

you can find carrots all around the world, as they remain a star vegetable
in many cuisines. But what do you really know about this biannual plant?
We delved into its history and biology and found 10 interesting facts that
will make you want to eat this vegetable even more.
1. Carrots were first grown in Afghanistan
While carrots are a common vegetable throughout the world, the first
cultivated carrot in recorded history is thought to have come from the
area around Afghanistan around 900 AD. Soon, this tasty veg spread to
the surrounding areas and by the 1000s, it was in the Middle East and
North Africa. From there it traveled to Spain, and by the 1300s it was
popping up in Northern European gardens and in various dishes in China.
2. Crme de Lite, Long Orange and Scarlet Nantes are all types of
carrots
Even though they are split into two categories, domestic and wild, there
are more types of carrots than you have ever imagined. Long Oranges, tiny
and stout Early Short Horns or their cousins the thin Half-Long Horns,
the giant Jaune Obtuse du Doubs, fat Danvers, long and skinny
Imperators, round Paris Markets and perfectly even Berlicums just to
name a few of the root shapes you can find. T hen, you go into strains of
carrots where you have the Crme de Lite, Sirkana, T op Cut, Red Core
Chantenay, Scarlet Nantes and in the spirit of Game of Thrones Little
Finger, a small orange specimen developed in France.
3. Baby carrots aren't a type of carrot
With all that talk about carrot varietals, we had to address the
phenomenon of baby carrots. T urns out they are either immature carrots,

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hence their small size, or pieces of larger, thin carrots that are cut into

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pieces. T he latter idea came from Mike Yurosek, a California farmer who
got tired of chucking blemished carrots away and started cutting and
peeling the vegetables into tiny perfection. In 2 010, carrot farmers got
together and started promoting baby carrots as an alternative snack food
a successful campaign that has plenty of people snacking on carrots
instead of chips.
4. You can leave them in the ground all winter
While so many wimpy vegetables need to be plucked and dug up, the

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mighty carrot can freeze itself happily in the ground. "After the carrots
have had a light frost you cover them with about a foot of leaf mulch,
which acts like insulation to prevent the ground and the carrots from
freezing solid," says farmer T oby Fischer of Ro-Jo Farms in Bethany,
Connecticut. "You can either over-winter carrots and harvest them in the
spring, or continuously harvest them throughout the winter months." And
when you do this, the carrot's sugars get more concentrated and the
result is a super tasty, sweet vegetable that anybody who loves dessert
will be excited to eat.

Re co mme nde d by Z e rgne t

5. Carrots are made up of 88 percent water

T hat's right. While you try and alleviate hunger in a healthy way by
chowing on carrots, most of what you are getting is water. Not that that's
a bad thing. In comparison, on average we humans are made of a measly
60 percent water.
6. Carrots come in many colors
Forget orange. You can get carrots in other natural hues of white, yellow
and a deep shade of purple, if you look for them. Funnily enough, the first
documented carrots were actually purple or white in color. T he orange
vegetables we know today were developed after a genetic mutation
caused purple carrots, which have a yellow-orange core, to lose their
color and turn a solid orange. Given that carrots have approximately 2 0
species worldwide, it's not surprising they come in various shades.
7. Cooking carrots is better for you than eating raw carrots
As the most popular and widely grown member of the apiaceae family, you
want to respect the vegetable. T his is why you should get the most out of
each bite by cooking them. T his releases the hidden pockets of good-foryou beta-carotene. In fact, eating carrots raw only gives you three percent
of this substance, but when you heat them up they release closer to 4 0
percent. So try these sweet vegetables pured into soup, sliced thin onto
a salad, braised in butter, baked, cooked until they are soft in a stew and
stuffed into poultry. Or, you can get funky with the root like chef Amanda
Cohen does in her Manhattan restaurant Dirt Candy, though, she says,
working with them isn't always easy. "Carrots are a blessing and a curse
because theyre super-versatile, but their sweet taste can easily
overwhelm a dish," she says. "Because theyre sweet, but also a little
bitter, kind of like the way lemon is sweet but also sour, at Dirt Candy
weve found that theyre perfect for desserts, like our Carrot Meringue
Pie." She adds that their indestructible texture also makes them a lot of
fun, and that even if you grill a carrot for a long time, it will never turn
mushy or lose shape. "T hat means we can grill them for ages," Cohen
says. "T hen, we shave them with a peeler, and get a deep, complex flavor,
with a hint of sweetness and a chewy texture.
8. Carrots contain the richest sources of beta-carotene
You may wonder why you care about beta-carotene. Well, here's the deal:
T his chemical is what gives fruits and vegetables a yellow-orange pigment
that turns into vitamin A in our systems. While it won't make you see in
the dark, beta-carotene does help with eyesight, as well as boost the
immune system and promote healthy skin.
9. Carrots have seeds
Bet you never thought about that one as you chomp on a smooth stalk of
this sweet-orange vegetable. But it's true. How else did you think they
grew? You harvest the seeds from the tiny white flowers that grow out of
the ground. Funnily enough, the carrot doesnt produce a traditional
seed, but instead it's classified as a schizocarp, a dry fruit composed of
multiple carpels that separate to release the seed inside. Researchers
have even found that wild carrot seeds dating back about 5,000 years
were discovered in Europe. Also, due to their aromatic qualities, the seeds

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have been used as a spice and in herbal medicine.

10. Carrots have sugar in them
Ha, and here you thought you were eating something healthy. Okay, well
yes, you are, but carrots do contain four types of sugars sucrose,
glucose, xylose and fructose. Luckily for you carb-a-phobes, despite the
sugar they contain very little starch, so you can have your sweet
vegetable without the carbs. Plus, even though they are on the saccharin
side, you also get a whopping bunch of good-for-you nutrients including
vitamins A, C, K and B6, manganese, calcium, lots of dietary fiber and
potassium.
This post is brought to you by our friends at Whole Foods Market

Read more T hings You Didn't Know columns on Food Republic:

10 T hings You Didn't Know About Apples
13 T hings You Didn't Know About Caviar
10 T hings You Didn't Know About Quinoa
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Mercy Mungai Ash Secondary School

AM MUCH IFORMED.
Reply Like January 20 at 11:50pm
Shakira Jameel
Great info..thanks.
Reply Like January 15 at 4:49am
Yussif Rashida Service Personel at Legal aid
educative and health
Reply Like January 15 at 1:51am
Jeff Swiech Sylvania, Ohio
For more hard hitting Carrot facts follow @RealCarrotFacts on twitter. (Note, this isn't spam, its just a
really funny twitter account devoted to carrots)
Reply Like

1 Edited November 24, 2014 at 1:18pm

Mary Wambida Maasai Mara University

Wonderful article
Reply Like January 9 at 4:58am
Tauseef Sarwar Government college thana
carrot a small thing with big advantages
Reply Like January 6 at 1:23am
Precious O Sweetangel Ebere House Captain at Student Of The Year 639 followers
Nice write up indeed...
Reply Like December 29, 2014 at 3:42am
Joesh Nonso Office Assistant at Roding Healthcare LTD
realy impacting
Reply Like December 29, 2014 at 3:43am
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