Amanda Price
This is the first year I’ve tried growing carrots. I chose Little Finger and Cosmic Purple varieties from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I had only seen the typical long orange carrots in grocery stores, which I’ve now learned are usually the Imperator or Danvers variety.
After harvesting my purple carrots I started to wonder if the purple carrot was cultivated from the orange carrot, and if so, how long ago?
I was quite interested to learn that wild carrots were white or pale yellow before they became domesticated 5,000 years ago. After that purple became the most common color until the 17th century when orange carrots took over.
Also, Romans believed that carrots were aphrodisiacs and kept them in their gardens for that reason.
What happened in the 17th century that caused orange carrots to take over in popularity? There is a folktale about how Dutch farmers started growing orange carrots in honor of Willam of Orange who had lead the Dutch to their independence. William the III was Dutch by birth and from the house of Orange. He also reigned as the king of England, Scotland, and Ireland until 1702. The popularity of the orange carrot does happen to coincide with that time period, however it is more likely that the orange carrot became more widely known because it was easier to grow in that region.
I knew carrots were healthy, but after researching a little more about the different colors I came across an article explaining the separate benefits of each color carrot.
Orange carrots have high levels of beta-carotene which is important for eye health, red carrots are high in lycopene which helps in preventing cancer. Purple carrots are high in anthocyanines, which may help prevent heart disease. Yellow carrots are high in luteins, which help with both cancer prevention and eye health. Also, all carrots are high in fiber, which is great for digestive health.
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