General Information
Carrots can be shades of orange, yellow, purple and white. Their flesh is snappy and crisp. Their flavors, quintessentially earthy and sweet with notes of celery. Though carrots are most often found trimmed of their thin, dill-like foliage, their greens are equally edible, with herbaceous carrot and parsley undertones.
History
Both the wild and the cultivated carrots belong to the species Daucus carota. Carrots originated over 5000 years ago in present-day Afghanistan. They were first cultivated as a purple root. Natural hybrids and mutants were developed and crossed with wild and cultivated varieties. Orange carrots first appeared in Europe in the 1700’s, quickly displacing other varieties and dominating the market. Carrots are a cool season crop that can tolerate average soil temperatures of 60 degrees F. Carrots are a biennial plant, reaching full maturity in their second year. Growers treat them as annuals though, plucking them from the ground before their growing cycle is complete. If left in the ground, the plant would flower and run to seed the following spring.
