By Mohiuddin hosen
1. Carrots were first grown in Afghanistan
2. Crème de Lite, Long Orange and Scarlet Nantes are all types of carrots
3. Baby carrots aren't a type of carrot
4. You can leave them in the ground all winter
5. Carrots are made up of 88 percent water
6. Carrots come in many colors
7. Cooking carrots is better for you than eating raw carrots
8. Carrots contain the richest sources of beta-carotene
9. Carrots have seeds
10. Carrots have sugar in them
10 Things You Didn't Know About Carrots
The orange veggie is more complex than you thought
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| Carrots |
The 88-percent water, seeded, healthful root vegetable has a colorful history.
Whether you are talking about wild or domestic carrots,
chances are this 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. Crème 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. Then, you go into
strains of carrots where you have the Crème de Lite, Sirkana, Top 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. Turns out they are either immature carrots,
hence their small size, or pieces of larger, thin carrots that are cut
into pieces. The 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 2010, 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
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 Toby 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.
5. Carrots are made up of 88 percent water
That'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. The 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 20 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. This is why you should get the most out
of each bite by cooking them. This releases the hidden pockets of
good-for-you 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 40 percent. So try these sweet vegetables puréed 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 they’re super-versatile, but their sweet
taste can easily overwhelm a dish," she says. "Because they’re sweet,
but also a little bitter, kind of like the way lemon is sweet but also
sour, at Dirt Candy we’ve found that they’re 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. "That means we can
grill them for ages," Cohen says. "Then, 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:
This 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 doesn’t 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 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.
