Once upon a time, this humble staple root veg wasn’t grown for its distinctive orange root at all. In fact, in the 7th century, wild carrots in colours of purple, white, red, black and yellow grew throughout the area that is now Iran and Afghanistan.
Back then, carrots were a popular forage food that people gathered both for their tasty, nutritious green tops and, albeit tiny, brightly coloured roots.
Through cultivation and selective breeding, the orange, larger-rooted carrots we know today began to appear in European marketplaces around the 16th century.
There’s an apocryphal tale that orange carrots became popular as a show of pride in the colour of the national flag when the Dutch celebrated independence from the Spanish empire in the 17th century.
CARROTS GROW BEST IN WARMER SOILS, SO GROW THEM…
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Good Organic Gardening (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue#10.5 - 2019