An Eye-opener to Carrots
Introduction
Taken by K8 on unsplash.com
Carrots are a very important yet often overlooked vegetable in many regions of the world. The vegetable that is often associated with keen eyesight and rabbits is actually found in many different forms other than its iconic orange style and also in many different recipes and meals. For instance, if you were to open a can of soup or ordered a plate of wings from a restaurant it is very likely that you would find a cut up carrot in the soup or as a side. Carrots are also a very versatile vegetable in the sense that they could be eaten raw but also they can be boiled, grilled, dried, seasoned, and can be adjusted to be put in just about any dish or serving whether it’s a side or part of the serving itself. As a child and to this day, I have had many different meals and snacks with carrots in it, and as I write this blog I have realized how often carrots go unnoticed and how overlooked their benefits are and how they are produced and distributed.
History
Since carrots can be grown in nearly any temperate region of the world it is hard to exactly pinpoint the origin and history of the carrot. However, according to the World Carrot Museum, carrots began to appear in the 10th century in different areas of Asia and reportedly in different colors like purple and yellow. The World Carrot Museum also says that the carrot, mostly the root and seeds, were used in a medicinal way rather than as a “base-vegetable”, and that the cultivation of the carrot attracted a lot of attention from foreigners and many people travelled just to see a singular one. Also, the only difference between a cultivated carrot and a wild carrot seems to be within their physical appearance. In an article about the genetic structure of carrots, Massimo Iorizzo, a professor who specializes in genetics- especially of small fruits and vegetable crops, declared that in previous studies carried out on the variety of wild and cultivated carrots, it was suggested that there was no similarities between the DNA structures of a wild and human grown carrots. However, there have been many speculations on how carrots were formally introduced in North America; whether they were seeds brought over and grown or settlers cultivated and improved from wild carrots that grow in North America. The American Journal of Botany, under the same article and authors of “Genetic Structure and Domestication of Carrots”, even states, “Wild carrot occurs widely across North America where it is commonly known as Queen Anne’s lace. However, the origin of its introduction has been unclear.” (Iorizzo, 2009-2011 So, the origin of introduction of the carrot is a tad-bit hazy, but there are still many names and references to these carrots.
Production and Finances
Carrots in the U.S. didn’t get popular until around the 1980’s when the baby carrot appeared in supermarkets according to the AgMRC. It makes sense considering that baby carrots are still very popular to this day being that they can be found in salads, veggie trays, and snack packs. Tying into this, Carrots became “the 6th most consumed fresh vegetable in the U.S.” and fresh carrots had a national peak in “1997 coming in at around 14.1 pounds per person.” As a result, carrot production has grown drastically, and has become a very lucrative cash crop for states like California, “which produces 85% of all carrots in the U.S…with the total 2020 carrot harvest being around 3.4 billion pounds.” (Carrots | Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (agmrc.org)). Other states like Michigan and Texas are important for carrot production. Carrot imports and exports from countries like Mexico and Canada also largely contribute to carrot production according to AgMRC. With these statistics it is no surprise that carrots are in the top ten of the most consumed vegetables in the U.S, and are a widely conventional dish in many households across the nation.
Recipe:
2 cups white sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 (15 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
References
The History of Carrots. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://nesfp.org/world-peas- food-hub/world-peas-csa/produce-recipes/carrots
A. Krejčová, J. Návesník, J. Jičínská, T. Černohorský, 2016, An elemental analysis of conventionally, organically and self-grown carrots, Food Chemistry, Volume 192, 242- 249, ISSN 0308-8146, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.07.008. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814615010134)
Are You Seeing All the Health Benefits of Carrots? (2015). Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, 33(1), 6.
Stelmach, K., Macko-Podgórni, A., Allender, C., & Grzebelus, D. (2021). Genetic diversity structure of western-type carrots. BMC Plant Biology, 21(1), 1–13. https://doi-org.ezproxy.stedwards.edu/10.1186/s12870-021-02980-0
Iorizzo, M., Senalik, D. A., Ellison, S. L., Grzebelus, D., Cavagnaro, P. F., Allender, C., Brunet, J., Spooner, D. M., Van Deynze, A., & Simon, P. W. (2013). Genetic Structure and Domestication of Carrot (Daucus Carota Subsp. Sativus) (Apiaceae). American Journal of Botany, 100(5), 930–938. https://doi-org.ezproxy.stedwards.edu/10.3732/ajb.1300055
Carrots. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/vegetables/carrots
Blog post by Connor Helmke