Carrots are one of the most important root vegetables for humans, grown in temperate climates. The vegetable cultivated today was derived from wild varieties whose roots were anything but orange. As scientists' research shows, carrots were originally purple or yellow.
It is difficult to judge the origin and evolutionary paths of the existing 80 species of cultivated carrots today. But archaeologists discover carrot seeds during excavations along the entire Mediterranean coast, in North Africa, in the Asian region and European countries with a temperate climate.
Wild species, most likely, were initially a source of greenery rather than juicy root vegetables for humans. Perhaps carrots were also used as...
At the same time, in Iran and Europe, cultural layers where evidence of carrot growth is found are about 5 thousand years old. Fossil pollen from plants of the Apiaceae family, dating back to the Eocene period, is between 55 and 34 million years old, which indicates the antiquity of the genus.
Ancestors of modern carrot varieties
Today, the existence of two original types of cultivated carrots has been confirmed. Eastern or Asian carrots historically have a purple color due to the anthocyanin pigment. And in some, the color is so intense that they began to talk about black carrots.
The pinnate leaves of the eastern type have a silvery tint and are noticeably pubescent. Such carrots are most widespread in Afghanistan, in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush mountains, and in Iran, India and some regions of Russia. In these same areas, yellow carrots are also found, which in the wild are tougher than dark-colored ones and have a pronounced pungent taste.
The beginning of cultural cultivation of purple carrots probably occurred in the 10th century. Three centuries later, purple root vegetables appeared in the Mediterranean, and a little later they began to be grown in China and Japan. Eastern yellow and purple carrots are still grown in Asia today, used to make strong alcoholic drinks, but in popularity and distribution they are inferior to Western varieties with orange roots.
Modern Western carrots are colored by carotene, so the roots can be red, orange, yellow or almost white.
Most likely, such varieties were the result of hybridization and crossing of oriental-type plants with wild subspecies of Mediterranean yellow carrots. The root vegetables consumed by Europeans until the 17th century were thin, highly branched and not at all juicy.
History of carrots in ancient times
Archaeologically verified evidence of the consumption of wild carrots has been found at early human sites in Switzerland.
Temple paintings in Luxor, Egypt, dating back to the second millennium BC, depict purple root vegetables. And papyri found in one of the pharaoh’s burials speak of treatment with carrot seeds or a plant similar to it. But neither archaeologists nor paleobotanists have yet been able to confirm Egyptologists’ assumptions about the distribution of purple carrots in the Nile Valley. The ancient Egyptians may have been familiar with other members of the Apiaceae family, such as anise or coriander.
Fossilized carrot seeds, at least five thousand years old, have been discovered in the highlands of Iran and Afghanistan.
Many varieties in a variety of colors have been found in Asia, and there is evidence of the use of wild carrots during the Hellenic period in Greece. Carrot seeds and their rhizomes were mainly used for medicinal purposes. For example, in the Ardennes during ancient Rome, carrots served as an aphrodisiac, and the Pontic king Mithridates VI believed that carrots could neutralize poisons.
Dioscorides, who served as a doctor in the Roman army, described and sketched more than 600 species of medicinal plants during his campaigns in his work De Materia Medica. The Byzantine edition of the work, dating back to 512, shows the reader the appearance of an orange carrot.
Documented history of carrots and their introduction into culture
The White Carrot Mystery and Classification Issues
In ancient Rome and Greece, carrots were called differently, leading to conflicting interpretations. In particular, the name Pastinaca could hide almost white carrots and the light root vegetables of the extremely popular parsnip at that time.
Galen suggested giving the carrot the name Daucus, separating it from related species. This happened in the second century of the new era. In those same years, the Roman scientist Athenaeus proposed the name Carota, and the root vegetable is also named in the cookbook of Apicius Czclius, dating back to 230.
However, with the fall of Rome, mentions of carrots completely disappear from European written sources. And confusion in identifying plants that were close in species and relatedness continued until the Middle Ages, until purple and yellow root crops were again brought to Europe from Asia.
Charlemagne issued a decree on the full reverence of carrots and recognition of them as the most valuable plant, and thanks to their openwork leaves and umbrella inflorescences, carrots became known in history as “Queen Anne’s lace.”
Today, the names of all varieties, from white root vegetables to black carrots, are subject to the classification Linnaeus developed in 1753.
Beginning of carrot breeding
Purposeful selection of the species began relatively recently. The description of the first cultivated variety dates back to 1721 and was written by Dutch botanists. It turned out to be easy to force carrots to produce sweeter and larger rhizomes. In order for the root crop to become noticeably straighter, sweeter and juicier, the plant only needed good care and cultivation of several generations in favorable conditions.
Historians were surprised that less than three centuries passed from the appearance of yellow and red carrots in the Netherlands to their spread as a vegetable species, as if the plant itself wanted to be cultivated.
The most famous varieties, Nantes and Chantanay, mankind owes to the ascetic French gardener Louis de Vilmorin, who in the 19th century laid the foundations of modern plant growing and in 1856 published a description of the varieties that are still in demand today.
Formation of carrot color
Oriental yellow varieties became the basis for obtaining both orange and white carrots. This conclusion, after analyzing the gene pool of plants, was made by geneticists quite recently, but both yellow and red carrots continue to be cultivated in the world. And a variety of purple carrots with a particularly intense dark color is called black. So what is the reason for such a variety of colors?
The color of the carrot root is the result of the action of various pigments related to carotenoids.
During the selection process, carrots became larger and juicier. It has lost some essential oils, but has acquired other health benefits, depending on both the color and its intensity.
A tricky way to produce carrots - video
Useful properties of carrots
Useful properties of carrots
Even small children know that carrots are a very healthy vegetable. So beneficial that the ancient Greeks and Romans considered it a sacred plant. Carrots are a real storehouse of vitamins. In order to get a daily dose of vitamin A alone, a person only needs to eat 18-20 g of it per day. But it also contains other useful substances, including those that are extracted from it for the preparation of medicines. Thus, carrots not only improve health, but also treat many diseases, mostly chronic ones, so those who like to crunch on fresh carrots will have to visit doctors less often than everyone else.
Use of carrots in nutrition
Although carrots are more useful fresh, they are eaten in any way: boiled, stewed, canned, and even more often added a little to other dishes - for taste. Is it possible to imagine the same borscht without carrots? What about most soups? And, of course, one cannot fail to mention such a product as carrot juice - one of the most delicious medicines.
However, even though we use carrots often, we usually miss something. Because of the delicious root vegetables, today we have almost forgotten that its greens with seeds are also edible, although at first carrots were grown precisely for them - as a seasoning. They can be used in the same way as greens and seeds of its close relatives - dill and parsley.
External description
The natural life cycle of carrots is 2 years; in the first year, a root crop and a rosette of very strongly dissected openwork leaves appear, and in the second, a stem and peduncles with umbrella inflorescences appear, which give the name to the entire umbellate family.
Carrots are very cold-resistant, they don’t mind frosts down to -5°C, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about heat - at high temperatures combined with drought, root vegetables become coarse and tasteless, and often also ugly in appearance. However, the same thing sometimes happens from drought alone, if the carrots are not watered at this time or watered very unevenly; The shape of root crops can also deteriorate due to too heavy soil - in it they often branch. The length of the day is also important for carrots: if it is shorter than 12 hours, its growth slows down, and root vegetables do not gain weight well. In general, growing carrots is very simple, a little more complicated than
Carrots, one of the most important root vegetables, have been cultivated for about 3,000 years. Wild carrots were originally purple in color, native to ancient Afghanistan, but over time, the victim of garden experimentation, they became pale white, red and finally, in the 1700s, thanks to the Danes, bright orange. Over time, orange carrots have taken root more than others, since they do not color other foods in dishes. The orange color comes from carotene, which, among other benefits, makes carrots so durable.
Carrots are the forgotten secret of youth, beauty and longevity. It is valuable for its high content of carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body. There are no other vegetables and fruits that contain as much carotene as carrots. Perhaps only sweet pepper can compare with it in this regard. Carrots are also an excellent source of vitamins C, B, D, E. They are rich in minerals and trace elements - potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, iodine, magnesium, manganese. It also contains essential oils, physiologically active substances - sterols, enzymes and other compounds necessary for the body.
It should be remembered that the carotene contained in carrots will be absorbed much better if you season the carrots and salads with vegetable oil. Carrots are a rare exception to the rule - when cooked they contain more useful substances than when raw. As Western experts note, immediately after cooking carrots, the level of antioxidants in them increases by 34% and increases in the first week of storage in boiled form. After a month of storing boiled carrots, they still contain more nutrients than fresh ones. Experts explain this by the fact that when boiled carrots are stored, new chemical compounds with high antioxidant properties are formed.
In therapeutic nutrition, carrots in their natural form or their juice are often used. Carrots have a comprehensive healing effect on the body:
- Carrot juice and grated carrots have a general strengthening effect. They cleanse the blood, remove toxins and harmful substances from the body, normalize metabolism, and increase the activity of all internal organs. Eating carrots is beneficial for vitamin deficiency and anemia.
- Carrots activate intracellular redox processes. Its consumption increases the content of essential antioxidants in the blood, which can strengthen the body's immune system (especially in older people), stimulate the growth of healthy cells and reduce the risk of cancer.
- Largely due to the high content of potassium salts, carrots are useful for diseases of the cardiovascular system, atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. In addition to the carrot itself and its juice, an extract from carrot seeds - daucarin - is also used for atherosclerosis and coronary insufficiency with symptoms of angina pectoris. This drug has a good antispasmodic effect and dilates the blood vessels of the heart.
- Carrot juice is useful for impaired kidney and liver function, helps remove sand and small stones in case of kidney stones and cleanses the liver.
- Carrots also regulate carbohydrate metabolism, improve digestion, eliminate constipation, as well as hemorrhoids.
- Relatively recently, scientists discovered that, due to the high content of phytoncides, carrots are able to influence pathogenic microflora almost as effectively as onions or garlic - recognized leaders in this area.
- Carrots are used for vision disorders, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, stomatitis, and inflammatory processes in the oral cavity. A mixture of carrot juice and honey is used to gargle for sore throat.
- In folk medicine, finely grated carrots and their juice are applied to burns, frostbitten areas of the skin, wounds and ulcers.
Contraindications and possible side effects: Fresh carrots and juice from them should not be consumed for stomach and duodenal ulcers, gastritis with high acidity of gastric juice, colitis, diarrhea, kidney stones - phosphate and carbonate variants.
You will have to give up carrots if you have severe diabetes. Children who are overindulged in carrots may experience fever, vomiting, sweating, skin rashes, and even yellowing of the skin. By the way, in case of diseases of the thyroid gland and liver, carrot carotene is not absorbed. Carrots can be harmful if you have low thyroid function. Carrot juice, as a remedy, should be avoided in case of liver diseases.
He sits in a dungeon, and the scythe is on the street. Tasty, sweet and surprisingly healthy. Who didn’t love to chew this orange vegetable as a child? We present to you some interesting facts about carrots.
Carrot- undoubtedly belongs to one of the healthiest vegetables. What gardeners value in carrots is, of course, the root vegetable itself. Although carrots were originally grown only to collect fragrant leaves. The first use of carrots as food dates back to the 1st century AD. And carrots were brought to Europe only in the 10-13th century.
To this day, it is one of the popular vegetables that is grown today in every corner of the world. There are a lot of varieties of carrots: from early-ripening, which is eaten in the summer, to late-ripening, which is harvested in winter.
Carrots are a biennial vegetable, although people are used to it and believe that it is an annual root crop and plant it every year without collecting the seeds. Carrots are stored well in the cold, but when warm, the root vegetable becomes soft and quickly loses its taste.
As well as a large number of substances and microelements we need, which include: copper, fluorine, iodine, iron, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus.
One of the important ingredients of carrots is beta carotene, helping the lungs work to their full potential. In our body, beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A, the growth vitamin. Carrots are so necessary for children, as they affect the growth of their bodies.
Nursing mothers need carrots to increase milk lactation and enrich it with vitamins. Boiled carrots are added to the diet of people who have diabetes. It is eaten to prevent gum disease.
Here's another interesting fact about carrots. Scientists have discovered that carrots are also a natural antibiotic due to the fact that they contain phytoncides. And they also do not have a bitter taste, compared to onions.
Carrots strengthen the retina, which helps people suffering from myopia, night blindness and conjunctivitis. Carrot juice is used for a lack of vitamins, diseases of the kidneys, liver, stomach, as well as for dry skin and dermatitis. It treats dysbiosis and ulcers.
Carrot juice helps strengthen the nervous system and protect the body from harmful factors. It also relieves fatigue, helps strengthen hair and nails, increases resistance to viral diseases and improves appetite.
It is added to first and second courses, as well as cold appetizers; it can also serve as an independent dish.
It should be noted that drinking carrot juice in large quantities can be harmful to health. An overdose of carotene is easily visible by a change in skin color; it takes on an orange tint. Therefore, there is no need to overdo it in eating carrots.
Other interesting facts about carrots can be found on the Internet.
Biennial vegetable cultivated plant of the celery (umbelliferous) family.
Root crops have a complex structure: developed wood (core) and bast (bark) part (parenchyma). The length of marketable root crops, depending on the variety, is 10-30 cm, diameter - 3-5 cm, growing weight (under optimal conditions) - 100-300 g. The shape of root crops depends on the variety and growing conditions: round, cylindrical and conical are distinguished .
The color of root crops is determined by the content of various pigments in them and depends on the variety and growing conditions. So, in the most common varieties of carotene carrots it is orange or red-orange, in Asian varieties it is lemon yellow, pink, red, purple. Root crops are also immersed in the soil unevenly: in some varieties they are completely immersed, while in others the “head” and “shoulders” are above the surface.
Carrot flowering begins in the second year of life after 45-50 days. after planting in the ground and lasts about 40 days. Seed plants are usually erect, less often erect, with many or few stems. The height of the shoots (stems) at the time of flowering, as a rule, reaches 1 m. Each stem bears an inflorescence called a complex umbel, consisting of individual umbels.
The flowers are small, mostly bisexual. The fruit is a two-seeded fruit: when ripe, it splits into 2 seeds.
Carrot seedlings can withstand short-term frosts (down to -4°C) without any special consequences. However, it should be taken into account that during prolonged frosts this crop is prone to stemming (flowering) in the phase of 5-8 leaves. When pre-winter and very early sowings, especially in the southern regions, it is necessary to calculate their timing so that the indicated phase does not coincide with the cooling period. In phases 3-4, as well as 8 or more leaves, the risk of flowering is much lower.
Temperature also affects the shape and color of root vegetables. Thus, in cold, poorly drained areas, pale, irregularly shaped roots are formed. However, overheating the soil also reduces the color intensity.
Carrots are not very demanding of moisture, but for normal growth and development they need an uninterrupted water supply. However, sharp changes from dry to high soil moisture are unfavorable for the crop. This causes cracking of the roots.
For carrots, areas with loose, fertile light loamy or sandy loam soil, with a high humus content and permeable subsoil are preferred. Clayey and heavy loamy soils are of little use: when they dry out, they form a dense crust that prevents seed germination, resulting in uneven seedlings.
