Friday, May 17, 2002

Back To Their Roots

Carrots started out purple in Afghanistan.

Go Figure.

The history of the carrot dates back about 5,000 years ago when the root was found to be growing in the area now known as Afghanistan. Temple drawings from Egypt in 2000 BC show a purple plant, which some Egyptologists believe to be a purple carrot.

Throughout the centuries Arab merchants traveled the trade routes of Arabia, Asia and Africa bringing home to their villages the seeds of the purple carrot. During these years the vegetable appeared in a variety of hues ranging from purple to white, pale yellow, red, green and black.

Moorish invaders are thought to have brought the purple and yellow variety from North Africa to Southern Europe around the 12th century. By the 13th century carrots are known to have grown in the fields of Germany and France. Flemish refugees eventually introduced the vegetable to the shores of England in the 15th century.

By the 1700s Holland was considered the leading country in carrot breeding and today's "modern" orange version is directly descended from the Dutch-bred carrots of this time. In an attempt to "nationalize" the country's favorite vegetable they began experiments on improving the pale yellow versions. These were crossed with red varieties containing anthocyanin to produce orange-colored roots. Successive hybridization intensified the widely recognized "orange" color of today.

Purple carrots are evidently coming back into vogue.

A new hybrid -- purple on the outside/orange on the inside -- may even be healthier than plain orange:

Research conducted in Holland, by Dutch carrot breeders, indicate that purple carrots contain a purple/red pigment called anthocyanin, which is believed to increase protection against cancer.

Carrot Breeder.

There's a concept.

A Google search turned up this page -- which includes a photo of "colorful" carrot cross sections.

It also has more information about the health benefits of these multi-hued roots.

The original story from which the above carrot history was lifted is here.

posted by Bohica at 10:01 AM