Article by Gil "hannaone"
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Image by hannaone
Weight information obtained from USDA food database

A root vegetable, carrots are originally from the hot and dry lands of Iran and Afghanistan, where they have been used since 3000 BC. Around the 10th century, they were domesticated in Asia. Their original wild carrots were purple with white interiors, and were bitter and woody in taste.

As trading caravans passed through this area, carrot seeds were spread to neighboring Arabian, African, and Asian lands, which accepted carrots immediately and started crossbreeding and creating new varieties. In ancient times, carrots were available in a variety of colors, such as black, white, red, and purple, but orange was not available.

It was common to cultivate purple carrots in Egypt, and they were used for both eating and medicine. As early as the 1st millennium BC, medicinal carrots were used in Greece and Rome as a healing remedy for a wide range of illnesses. The bitter, hard-to-eat carrots were used there for healing.

From Persia to Asia, carrots reached distant Japan by the 13th century. The same time, European carrots began to be cultivated in fields and gardens in France and Germany. These carrots were bitter, but they were nutritious and quickly spread across the entire continent.

Dutch yellow carrots were engineered to be bitter-free, sweet, and minimally woody during the 17th century as a tribute to the ruling House of Orange.

In 1609, English settlers started cultivating carrots in Jamestown, Virginia. Brazil was the first South American country to receive carrots, and Australia not long after.

In modern cuisine, carrots are commonly consumed raw or cooked. In addition to vitamin A, vitamin K, and vitamin B6, carrots and turnips are a good source of vitamins A, K, and B6. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China will grow 44% of the world's carrot and turnip production by 2020.