Carrot

The carrot is a root vegetable, typically orange or white in color with a woody texture. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot.

Varieties

Carrot cultivars can be broadly grouped into two broad classes: eastern carrots and western carrots.

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Eastern carrots

Eastern carrots were domesticated in Central Asia, probably in modern-day Afghanistan in the 10th century or possibly earlier. Afghanistan remains the center of diversity of D. carota cultivars. Those varieties of eastern carrot that survive to the present day are mostly commonly purple or yellow in color, and often have mildly branched roots. The purple color common in these carrots comes from anthocyanin pigments.

Related Topics:
Afghanistan - 10th century - Center of diversity - Anthocyanin

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Western carrots

The Western carrot emerged in the Netherlands in the 15th or 16th century, its orange color making it popular in those countries an emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. The orange color results from abundant carotenes in these varieties. While orange carrots are nearly ubiquitous in the West, other colors do exist, including white, yellow, red, and purple. These other colors of carrot are raised primarily as novelty crops.

Related Topics:
Netherlands - 15th - 16th century - House of Orange - Dutch independence - Carotene

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The Vegetable Improvement Center at Texas A&M University has developed a purple-skinned, orange-fleshed carrot, the BetaSweet, with substances to prevent cancer, which has recently entered commercial distribution.

Related Topics:
Texas A&M University - Cancer

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Western carrot cultivars are commonly classified by their root shape:

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• Imperator carrots are the carrots most commonly sold whole in U.S. supermarkets; their roots are longer than other varieties of carrot, and taper to a point at the tip.
• Nantes carrots are nearly cylindrical in shape, and are blunt and rounded at both the top and tip. Nantes varieties are often sweeter than other carrots.
• Danvers carrots have a conical shape, having well-defined shoulders and tapering to a point at the tip. They are somewhat shorter than Imperator varieties, but more tolerant of heavy soil. Danvers varieties are often pureed as baby food.
• Chantenay carrots are shorter than other varieties, but have greater girth, sometimes growing up to 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter. Shapewise, they have broad shoulders and taper towards a blunt, rounded tip. They are most commonly diced for use in canned or prepared foods.

While any carrot can be harvested before reaching its full size as a more tender "baby" carrot, some fast-maturing varieties have been bred to produce smaller roots ordinarily. The most extreme examples produce round roots about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. These small varieties are also more tolerant of heavy or stony soil than long-rooted varieties such as Nantes or Imperator. The "baby carrots" sold ready-to-eat in supermarkets, however, are not from a smaller variety of carrot, but rather are full-sized carrots that have been sliced and peeled to make carrot sticks of a uniform shape and size.

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