Carrots

Carrots were not always orange.

People first grew carrots as a food crop more than a thousand years ago in Central Asia, in the area around present-day Afghanistan. Those early carrots were mostly purple and yellow.

Orange carrots became common in Western Europe, especially the Netherlands, in the 1500s and 1600s. Orange carrots grew reliably and tasted sweet and mild. Purple carrots stain soups and stews a muddy brown when cooked, and orange carrots do not.

A carrot is the root of the carrot plant. Roots store energy for the plant as carbohydrate, which is why carrots taste sweet.

The orange in a carrot comes from a pigment called beta carotene. A pigment is a compound that gives something its color. A compound is a substance made of two or more elements joined together.

Your body turns beta carotene into vitamin A. Your eyes use vitamin A to see in dim light.

Beta carotene dissolves in fat, so eating carrots with something fatty helps your body absorb more of it. I like to dip carrots in peanut butter. Cooking carrots also breaks open the plant cells and releases more beta carotene.

Carrots of other colors carry other pigments. Purple carrots carry anthocyanins. Yellow carrots carry lutein, a pigment your body moves into the back of your eyes, where lutein helps protect the cells you use for sharp vision. Red carrots carry lycopene, the same pigment in red tomatoes. Many of these pigments are antioxidants, so eating carrots of different colors gives your body a wider range of protection.

You are welcome to eat carrots with something fatty, like peanut butter.

Stacy 🌺

Information in this post comes from my learning and research.

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I share my experiences and my perspective. Eating and healing look different for everyone. If you are struggling with food or your relationship with your body, please find support. You don’t have to do this alone.