Daucus carota – that’s the botanical name you could bring up in dinner conversation to impress your friends

Have you tried a freshly picked carrot? I’m not talking about the ones from the shops that were picked days or weeks ago. I mean straight out of the ground fresh. That is when they have the most amount of sugars and taste really good. Once they are picked and stored, the sugars start converting into starches which are pretty tasteless. So the longer its been since they were picked, the less sweet carrot taste they have.

A bit of interesting Carrot History

Carrots used to be a whole range of colours- purple, yellow, red, white and even black.

In the 1700s the Dutch decided the best colour was Orange to be patriotic to the ruling house of Orange.  So the orange carrot as we know so well today was really just a clever political PR stunt back in the 1800s!

You can still get some of the other colour carrot seeds and their is subtle differences in flavour but generally most of the carrots we grow in Australia are going to be that nice bright orange.

Should you buy punnets of carrot seedlings or grow your own?

Even though carrots are sold in punnets at nurseries and hardwares, it doesn’t make any sense to buy them like that. They don’t like being transplanted and you end up with very twisted carrots. Much better to sow carrot seeds directly into well prepared beds. The soil must be soft and fine. No big lumps or rocks as any obstacle they hit when sending their root down will result in a crooked carrot. Some gardeners even go to the effort of sifting their carrot beds through a soil sieve!

We usually dig the bed over using a long Power Planter so that it gets down a good 40cm or so deep. The Power Planter will break up all the clumps and churn any stones to the surface for removal.  Once it is well cultivated, water the soil so it is damp ready for sowing seeds.

Storing Carrots

Even though the green leafy tops look nice, it’s important to remove them when you harvest because they continue to draw moisture out  and you will end up with limp carrots. So the best bet is to cut off the leaves when you harvest, wash and dry the carrots and store them in your fridge crisper.

All those leaves you cut off can either go into the compost bin, or you can finely chop some up and sprinkle over salads.

Why are carrots so good for you?

Not only are they so versatile eaten raw or in juices, dips, roasted, steamed and stir fries but they are full of good stuff like beta carotene  which our bodies converts into Vitamin A and gives us good eyesight and strong immunity. 

Biotin – A B Vitamin that helps us metabolise fat and protein. They also make us feel full and have low calories so would be a good one to include in a weight loss diet.

Fibre – we all know that stops us getting clogged up doing Number 2’s!

Vitamin K1 – is for our bone health and also blood coagulation.

Potassium – helps to control our blood pressure.

Vitamin B6 – a group of vitamins that helps us convert food into energy.

Antioxidants – Those antioxidants have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer particularly prostrate, colon and stomach cancers.