History of the Carrot Part Five

Science & Enlightenment - AD 1700 to date

Chapters in the history rooms:
 

	History Part 1 - A Brief Timeline
	History Part 2 - Neolithic to AD 200 - Origins and development
	History Part 3 - AD 200 to 1500 - From Medicine to Food
	History Part 4 - 1500 to 1700   - Evolution and Improvement in the Renaissance
	History Part 5 - 1700 to date   - Science & Enlightenment - the modern carrot evolves
	History of Carrot Colour - Explores, in some detail the theories of the road to domestication and the origin of Orange Carrots
	History in WW2 - Takes an in depth look of the role of carrots in World War Two, reviving its popularity

18th Century  By the 1700's Holland was the leading country in carrot breeding and today's "modern" orange version is directly descended from the Dutch-bred carrots of this time.. At the time four main orange varieties existed - Early Half Long, Late Half Long, Scarlet Horn and Long Orange. All modern Hybrids are derived from these four strains. It was attractive enough to figure in several Dutch masters paintings. See the Art page for some truly great works of art featuring carrots.

In this period many new ways had been gradually found of utilising the materials for food, and vegetables were growing more plentiful. The carrot was used in soups, puddings, and tarts.

In Batty Langley's New Principles of Gardening (1728) he describes the two primary varieties of carrots this way: "Yellow Carrots…The root is of an Orange (rather than a limon) Colour." He also records that the root of this carrot is 22" long and 12 ½" in diameter, a huge root by today’s standards. . The red carrot he describes as: "its Root of a Blackish red without, and yellowish within; and is very seldom cultivated in our Gardens." This is probably in reference to the purple carrot, which by this time is disappearing in England.

In 1736 E. Smith's wrote "Compleat Housewife," and included this delicious and unusual recipe -
 

In 1740 a recipe for Carrot Pudding appeared - "Receipts (recipes) of Pastry and Cookery For the Use of his Scholars. By Ed. Kidder (1720-1740)" read more on carrot puddings here.

By 1749 it appears that England was exporting carrots, via the Dutch East India Company. The ship "Amsterdam", built in 1748 in Amsterdam, was lost during her maiden voyage, outward bound for Batavia, the modern Djakarta, in January 1749 near the little town of Hastings on the south coast of England. The excavations of the wreck form part of an integrated historical and archaeological programme to create relevant historical models for understanding the ship and its contents. Among the different kinds of vegetable remains, such as the seeds of spinach, carrot, wild radish, beet, purslane, black mustard and coriander. In addition to rice, wheat and other cereals, seeds and pips of fruits like figs and blackberries were found. (Source - East Indiaman Amsterdam research 1984-1986 J Gawronski - ANTIQUITY 64 (1990): 363-75)

John Wesley,MA 1747 wrote "A Primitive Physic, an easy and natural method of curing most diseases" , this included carrots in several "cures" -

A cancer in the breast  - 112. A Poultice of wild Parsnips or scraped Carrots, Flowers, Leaves and Stalks, changing it Morning and evening.

 For Putrid wounds 822. “Apply a carrot poultice.”

(A Cancer was described as a hard, round, uneven, painful swelling, of a blackish or leaden Colour, the Veins round which seem ready to burst. It comes commonly with a Swelling about as big as a Pea, which does not at first give much Pain, nor change the colour of the Skin.)

1747 Prussian chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, 38, discovered that beets and carrots contain small amounts of sugar.

1747 The New English Dispensary indicates - Various species all used in medicine -Wild Carrot seed infused in ale is an esteemed diuretic, and excellent to prevent the stone and alleviate its more violent fits. It also expels gravel and provokes urine and the menses. Domestic carrot has dark red roots.  the roots are frequently used in food though they are flatulent. They are thought to render the body soluble and contribute to the cure of the cough. A dram of seeds of white carrot reduced to a powder are exhibited in Baum water as a specific against hysteric fits. (Extract here)

We also know that this root crop was adopted by Native Americans, because it was listed among the Native American crops destroyed by General John Sullivan's army in 1779.  (USA history, read more here)

In forays against the Iroquois in upper New York State in 1779 Gen. John Sullivan's forces destroyed stores of carrots as well as parsnips. The story is told that children of the Flathead tribe in Oregon liked carrots so well that they could not resist stealing them from the fields, although they resisted stealing other things.

Find out more about John Sullivan (1740-1795) by clicking the picture.

Thomas Jefferson  (3rd President of the Unites States) raised several types of carrots in his Monticello garden. In 1814 he produced 18 bushels of carrots.. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."

The gardens at Monticello were a botanic garden, an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world. At Monticello, Jefferson cultivated over 250 vegetable varieties in his 1000-foot-long garden terrace and 170 fruit varieties in the eight-acre fruit garden, designed romantic grottos, garden temples, and ornamental groves, and took visitors on rambling surveys of his favourite "pet trees."  Jefferson was crazy about gardening.  See Jefferson's handwritten note here about how he underestimated the amount of carrots he needed.

An interesting letter from George Divers to Thomas Jefferson in 1809 gives an idea of one man's preferences for several of the root crops. "I sow 200 feet each of parsnip and beet. 320 feet each salsafy and carrots…which is a very ample provision for my table and indeed, more than sufficient." Jefferson's Garden Book (first citation) shows:-  Carrots (1774), Early Carrot (1812), Large Carrot (1812), Orange Carrot (1809), Yellow Carrot (1811).

He also said "I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables which constitute my principal diet." (TJ to Dr. Vine Utley, 21 March 1819)

Carrots were allowed to escape cultivation and subsequently turned into the omnipresent and delicate wild flower  "Queen Anne's Lace" which in some US counties is still considered a pest today. Find out more about the wild carrot on its own page. Click here.

When the British Navy blockaded West Indian sugar from entering Europe in the 18th century, chemists made sugar from organic carrots, sugar is still extracted from beets (incidentally, rabbits much prefer beets to carrots).

In the long history of plant science, no name is more famous than that of Linnaeus and no book is more highly regarded than his "Species Plantarum," published in 1753, the starting-point for the Latin binomial, or two-word, names of plants. These are recognized in all countries, and so enable positive identification of a plant species anywhere, regardless of innumerable vernacular names.

Theophrastus, the father of botany used binomials even in the 4th century B.C., but it was Linnaeus who systematized them and made them into a workable code of nomenclature, distinguishing for the first time between species and varieties, and making the species the unit of classification. He recognised Daucus Pastinaca in the first edition.

The Compleat Book of Husbandry, Volume three by Thomas Hale, 1758, which "contained rules for the whole business of farmer in cultivating, planting and stocking of land":

"There is a variety of colour in the roots of the carrot, the gardeners have hence made what they call three principal kinds: These they call, 1. The dark red carrot. 2. The orange carrot. And 3. the white carrot.  The first and last of these terms are somewhat improper, the first kind being only a very deep orange, and the other a very pale yellow. The first is most esteemed. The white kind is more common in France and Italy than here; and is the sweetest and finest flavoured of them all. The farmer is to cultivate not that which is best, but what people think so; and therefore he is to chuse the deep red, commonly called the Sandwich carrot."

A British army manual written in 1798 sang the praises of soup for weary troops. Nothing is so agreeable and at the same time so wholesome to a soldier, after a fatiguing and perhaps wet march, as some warm soup. The use of broth or soup is particularly advantageous after great fatigue, because, on these occasions, the digestive organs are weakened and less liable to bear solid food than at other times. That manual went on to enumerate the items usually available for the army mess’s soup kettle. Among these were cabbage, carrots, parsnips, onion, and potatoes. (The Soldiers Friend 1798)

John Wesley gave to the world in 1769 an admirable little treatise on Primitive Physic, or an Easy and Natural Method for Curing most Diseases; the medicines on which he chiefly relied being our native plants. For asthma, he advised the sufferer to "live a fortnight on boiled Carrots only"; for "baldness, to wash the head with a decoction of Boxwood"; for "blood-spitting to drink the juice of Nettles".

In 1773, British explorer James Cook and navigator Tobias Furneaux planted a number of gardens in Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, with plants such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, onions, leeks, parsley, radish, mustard, broad beans, kidney beans, peas, turnips and wheat. That same year, south of Cape Kidnappers, Cook gave the Māori chief Tuanui roots and seeds, including wheat, beans, peas, cabbages, turnips, onions, carrots, parsnips and yams. When Europeans arrived, Māori replaced their traditional crops with those brought by Europeans. Their main crop was soon potatoes, which provided a heavier and more reliable food source than kūmara, and could be grown throughout the country. Corn, cabbages, tobacco, carrots, turnips, squash, swedes and new varieties of kūmara were also added to Māori gardens.

By the start of the 19th century vegetable growing had become a highly profitable enterprise for some coastal tribes who sold or traded their vegetables with whalers, sealers and the first European settlers.

Although Māori adopted the new crops they did not adopt all European horticultural practices. Māori were reluctant to use hoes and spades, preferring their traditional tools. They also refrained from fertilising their crops with animal manure, instead continuing to clear new sites when the fertility of their gardens dropped.

On 13 May 1787 it was recorded that a total of 66 bushels of seed was loaded aboard HMS Sirius, Supply and Golden Grove, part of the fleet of eleven ships which left Portsmouth, England for Australia. Gidley King's gang of convict gardeners sowed carrot seed at Norfolk Island on 17 March 1788, just two weeks after their arrival. It noted that the seedlings had sprouted by 21 March (probably not correct!). More carrots, from "English Seeds" were sown on 7 July and the mature roots were gathered in October. 

In 1788 The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, by Mrs Glasse gave advice of how to dress carrots. By far the most well known of the 18th century cookbook authors,  became the cookbook to have if you lived in Britain at the time.Glasse's Carrot Pudding is here.

First records in Australia show it arrived in 1788 with the First Fleet and convicts planted 'Long Orange' carrots on Norfolk Island just two weeks after their arrival and gathered in their first harvest in October of that year. Along with the cabbage, it became an important food for the colonists.

Visit the Australia page here for more information. (opens in new window)

1789 - "Hortus Kewensis", a catalogue of plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London, compiled by William Aiton,  Gardener to His Majesty George lll records yellow and red  garden carrot, natives of England.

In 1791 William Lewis produced An Experimental History of the Materia Medica giving an account of the pharmaceutical properties and medicinal powers of plants. The book promoted the use of carrots as a diuretic, for the relief of stranguary (difficulty or pain in urinating). It indicated that wild carrots gave a stronger effect. It also recommends a poultice of garden carrot root to treat skin ulcers. He concludes by saying the "A marmalade of carrots has also been proposed as an addition to the stock of ships provisions, for preventing scurvy."

In 1793 the Catalogue of Flower Roots & Seeds of J Mason At the Orange Tree, 152 Fleet Street London listed Early Horn and Long Orange (Sandwich) carrot seeds.

1793 - Apiaceae - Daucus carota.(right) From: Flora rustica: exhibiting accurate figures of such plants as are either useful or injurious in husbandry by Thomas Martyn.
London, F.P. Nodder, [1793], volume 3, plate 82. Hand-coloured engraving by Frederick Polydore Nodder

The Soldier’s Friend, 1798, .A British army manual sang the praises of soup for weary troops.

"Nothing is so agreeable and at the same time so wholesome to a soldier, after a fatiguing and perhaps wet march, as some warm soup. The use of broth or soup is particularly advantageous after great fatigue, because, on these occasions, the digestive organs are weakened and less liable to bear solid food than at other times."

The manual went on to enumerate the items usually available for the army mess’s soup kettle. Among these were cabbage, carrots, parsnips, onion, and potatoes.

By the 1800's horticultural growers were producing roots of a colossal size. Some were two feet in length with a girth of twelve inches and weighing four pounds each. Carrots were widely cultivated in the walled gardens of country estates. Growers were continually experimenting with strains to create the perfect "show roots". Come the 19th century, carrots were widely grown and began their descent into the ordinary alongside onions and potatoes. This certainly was not a bad thing, as obviously some foodstuffs have to take the role as workhorse recipe ingredients. And carrots certainly do it well, whether it's the leading taste in a soup, cake or refreshing drink, or bit-player in stock, salad or stew.

In 1803 Dr A Hunter wrote numerous essays in the series "Georgical Essays" detailing his experiments on the planting of carrots, their yield and uses on the farm.  He also detailed an experiment to make a useful alcoholic spirit from carrots. (full text available from Archive.org here)
 

In 1806 William Mason contributed a 12 page report entitled "Experiments on the Culture of Carrots", to Nicholson's journal - Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts.  "The purport of this communication is to explain, with a degree of accuracy, the best method to produce carrots. In Suffolk, the culture of this highly valuable root has been carried on for ages. Various attempts have been made to extend the benefit more generally throughout the kingdom, but with little success."  The man them of the document is to explain in minute detail how carrots can be grown anywhere in the country and goes on to describe ideal environmental, propagation and maintenance conditions to guarantee a good crop.   "The season for sowing is middle of March to 12 April; the proper hoe should four inches by and one half inch and kept sharp." 

Having explained in some considerable details (though he describes it as concise!) the document then moves on to describe the use and application of carrots once cultivated. Overgrown and crooked carrots are extracted before the rest go off to market, the former are retained for home consumption "for which they will answer vas well as the others".   The ones retained were recommended as an extremely valuable feed to cart horses and other cattle, but not riding horses "nimble exercise causes them to be laxative and produce griping." It is interesting that even at this early stage the market preferred straight carrots

In 1808 the following recipe appeared in "Domestic Cookery" by Maria Rundell. It is interesting that she talks about the red part of the carrots and not the yellow.
 

In 1811 Frenchman, Nicholas Appert introduced the art of preserving and described means of preserving carrots in glass jars. Either simply scalded and half boiled in water with salt, or prepared as soup, ready to eat out of the bottle. Appert said "“henceforth, everybody will be able to preserve the treasures nature bestows on us in one season and enjoy them in the sterile season when she refuses them.”  (The Art of Preserving all kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances 1811). Read an interesting on line article about the history of canning here.

1813 - The Duke of Bedford promoted an act of Parliament to clarify the rles applicable to the use of Covent Garden Market in London. It established his right to collect tolls and a schedule to the Act contained a scale of the tolls which might be charged in the different parts of the market known as the casual cart stands. Here is the toll for "Carts containing wholly or principally carrots".

1825 saw the publication of the encyclopaedia of Gardening by John Claudius Loudon which described in great depth the practices for the successful cultivation of carrots. It mentions that the perfect manure for a carrot field is "half for the dunghill and half from the merde (collected from the privies!), ploughed in and the surface made smooth so that the seeds can be planted in April, covered with a harrow."

1831 "A Guide to the orchard and kitchen garden, an account of the most valuable vegetables grown in Great Britain" written by George Lindley of the Royal Horticultural Society, lists the varieties of carrots grown at the time.

1833 - Wild ancestors and the modern carrot - In the days before the laws of heredity were properly understood, it used to be thought that if you grew wild carrots in your garden long enough, they would eventually turn into cultivated carrots, NOT SO!

The French botanist and horticulturist M Vilmorin-Andrieux reported in a paper to the Royal Horticultural Society in London that in six years from 1833, starting with wild seed from white rooted plants, he had managed to grow thicker, biennial , red rooted carrots, but they remained course, forked and not very tasty.

Vilmorin claimed to have produced a viable, cultivated carrot from wild plants in just a few generations. The experiment was never repeated and it is thought that the "wild" plants used had previously been hybridised in nature with cultivated carrots. (Source Banga 1957)

His partial success had nothing to do with cultivation and everything to do with the wild carrots gene pool that enabled him to fix the genomes he selected. He simply selected seed from biennial, red rooted variations. So he could not lay claim to be the founder of modern carrot, as many writers suggest.

Vilmorin produced "The Vegetable Garden" in 1856 and it became one of the major resources for botanists and others interested in garden plants.

Some images of the carrots varieties which Vilmorin described (and were probably the original orange carrot varieties developed in Holland):
 

By 1849 the seeds catalogues were expanding their range - Early Scarlet Horn Long Orange Fine Surrey Parsnip (!) - Hollow Crown Altringham White (for agricultural) - Catalogue of John Kernan

In 1850 Miss Leslie's "Lady's New Receipt Book" gave a useful guide for small and large families containing directions for cooking, preserving and pickling.
 

!860 - "The Habits of Good Society" commmented - "There are many ways of dressing potatoes and carrots, which last are a vegetable much neglected at English tables, but when quite young, and dressed with butter in the French fashion, a delicious eatable, and a preventive of jaundice, which should recommend them strongly to professional diners-out.

1861 saw the publication of Mrs Beeton's "Book of Household Management" arguably the most famous cookery writer in British history. she writes three pages on carrots and carrot recipes, how to boil, dress, stew and  slice carrots. she describes their origin,  the constituent parts of carrots and advice on how to collect seeds. She said "Several species of carrots are cultivated,—the red, the yellow, and the orange. Those known as the Crecy carrots are considered the best, and are very sweet. The carrot has been classed by hygienists among flatulent vegetables, and as difficult of digestion."   Here is how she describes the nutritional value. Read the full extract from Mrs Beeton's cookbook here. (pdf)
 

New Carrots

"NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF THE CARROT - Sir H. Davy ascertained the nutritive matter of the carrot to amount to ninety-eight parts in one thousand; of which ninety-five are sugar and three are starch. It is used in winter and spring in the dairy to give colour and flavour to butter; and it is excellent in stews, haricots, soups, and, when boiled whole, with salt beef. In the distillery, owing to the great proportion of sugar in its composition, it yields more spirit than the potato. The usual quantity is twelve gallons per ton."

The Danvers carrot is a true American heirloom, originated from market gardens in Danvers, MA. and introduced in 1871 (USA history, read more here)

Gentlemen in Teheran in the 1870's took carrots stewed in sugar as an aphrodisiac to increase the quality and quantity of sperm!

Joseph Banks the eminent botanist noted that carrots cultivated in Sandy, Bedfordshire were transported by mule to neighbouring areas, where growing conditions were less favourable.

All modern day carrots are directly descended from Dutch-bred carrots. The familiar vegetable with its thick sweet tasting root, comes from a natural variety of "Queen Anne's Lace" named Daucus Carota variety sativus (Sativus means cultivated) similar to dill, but with bright white umbrella - shaped flower clusters.  Learn all about the Wild Carrot - Queen Anne's Lace here.

This extract from the Kings American Dispensary in 1898 shows that a carrot poultice was recommended - "Preparation.-Take of garden carrots, scraped, 4 ounces, Indian meal (corn meal), 1 ounce, boiling water, a sufficient quantity to form a cataplasm of the proper consistence. Action and Medical Uses.-This will be found a valuable application to indolent and gangrenous ulcers, and painful tumours."

The discovery of vitamins in the 19th century, and more particularly of vitamin A, increased the appreciation of the carrot in the every day diet, as it could help prevent night blindness. For this same reason, during the Second World War, British pilots were given large amounts of carrots in their diet. Vitamin A is also good for nails, hair and skin. It has been recognised as having proven nutritional properties from the very early days. See the Nutrition pages for more information.

Twentieth Century

Throughout the Victorian and Edwardian eras, brown Windsor was a classic British soup made from lamb or beef, leeks, carrots, parsnips, bouquet garni, and Madeira. Later it sometimes contained onion and chopped parsley. It got its colour from browned meat and flour. The famous singer Jenny Lind, who arrived in England in 1847, is supposed to have partaken of soup to soothe her throat before her performances.

In 1905 Sears opened its seed department.

In 1908 this book was published - Food Remedies Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses / Daniel, Florence 1908, here is what was said about carrots:

Writing in 1910, Dr W T Fernie wrote "Meals Medicinal" (Curative foods from the cook in place of drugs from the chemist). Fernie claimed that "The chief virtues of the Carrot lie in the strong antiseptic qualities which it possesses, as preventive of putrescent changes either within the body, or when applied externally. At Vichy, where derangements of the liver, and of the biliary digestion, are specially treated, Carrots in one form or another are served at every meal, whether in soup, or with meat, or as a vegetable dish, considerable efficacy for cures being attributed to them."
 

Dr Fernie also wrote "Herbal Simples and Approved for Modern Uses of Cure" (1897) in which he refers to carrot as "an umbelliferous plant, which groweth of itself in untoiled places, and is called ”philtron”, because it serveth for love matters". Then recommended - The seeds are warm and aromatic to the taste, whilst they are slightly diuretic. A tea made from the whole plant, and taken each night and morning, is excellent when the lithic acid, or gouty disposition prevails, with the deposit of a brick-dust sediment in the urine on its becoming cool.

He answers the question "What is a Herbal Simple?" The English word "Simple," composed of two Latin words, Singula plica (a single fold), means "Singleness," whether of material or purpose.  From primitive times the term "Herbal Simple" has been applied to any homely curative remedy consisting of one ingredient only, and that of a vegetable nature. Many such a native medicine found favour and success with our single-minded forefathers, this being the "reverent simplicity of ancienter times."  Read a more comprehensive extract here (pdf)

As early as 1918, carrot was becoming more recognised as a healthy eating option. It was also promoted during World War One.

Produced in France around 1915 Cultivons Notre Potager (Let’s Dig Our Vegetable Garden).

Extract From : Everyday Foods in War Time, by Mary Swartz Rose, 1918
 

"Some of our very common vegetables are good sources of the calcium (lime) and phosphorus so freely supplied in milk. Among these may be taken as an example the carrot, which has not had due recognition in many quarters and in some is even spoken of contemptuously as "cattle food." Its cheapness comes from the fact that it is easy to grow and easy to keep through the winter and should not blind us to its merits. A good-sized carrot (weight one-fourth pound) will have only about half the fuel value of a medium-sized potato, but nearly ten times as much calcium as the potato and about one-third more phosphorus. While actual figures show that other vegetables, especially parsnips, turnips, celery, cauliflower, and lettuce, are richer in calcium than the carrot, its cheapness and fuel value make it worthy of emphasis. Everyone who has a garden should devote some space to this pretty and palatable vegetable. It is perhaps at its best when steamed till soft without salting and then cut up into a nicely seasoned white sauce; its sweetness will not then be destroyed nor its salts lost in the cooking water. It is not only useful as a hot vegetable, but in salads, in the form of a toothsome marmalade, and as the foundation of a steamed pudding. For little children it is most wholesome and they should make its acquaintance by the time they are a year and a half old, in the form of a cream soup. A dish of carrots and peas (one-half cup peas, one-fourth cup carrot cubes, one-half cup white sauce) will have almost the same food values (for fuel, calcium, phosphorus, and iron) as an equivalent serving of oatmeal, milk, and sugar (three-fourths cup cooked oatmeal, one-half cup milk, one rounding teaspoon sugar) and will add variety to the diet without costing a great deal more unless one pays a fancy price for peas." Recipe for Carrot & Potato Soup - (serve 4) Potatoes, 3 medium Water, 2 cups Flour, 4 tablespoons Soup greens Onion, 2 slices Sprigs of parsley Milk, 1½ cups Carrot, 1 Fat, 1½ tablespoons Salt and pepper Stalk of celery Wash and pare potatoes. Cook in boiling salted water until they are soft. Rub through colander. Use water in which potatoes were cooked to make up the two cups of water for the soup. Cook carrot cut in cubes in boiling water until soft; drain. Scald milk with onion, celery, and parsley. Add milk and water to potatoes. Melt fat in sauce pan, add flour, and cook for three minutes. Slowly add soup, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, season with salt and pepper. Add cubes of carrots and serve.

Also published in 1918 - Foods that will win the war and how to cook them by C. Houston Goudiss and Alberta M. Goudiss included recipes using carrots as meat substitutes, a carrot salad, cream of carrot soup and a recipe for Carrot or Pumpkin Marmalade!
 

Danvers (Illinois) Township Home Bureau Unit Cook Book, 1921

CARROT PUDDING 1 pound grated carrots 3/4 lb. chopped suet 1/2 lb. raisins 1/2 lb. currants Steam 4 hours, sauce. 4 tablespoons sugar 8 tablespoons flour Spices to suit the taste Place in oven for 20 minutes. Serve with Sauce

Sauce - 1 cup butter 2 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup wine Beat butter to cream. Add sugar gradually. When light add wine which has been heated. Place in bowl of water and stir until smooth. — Mrs. Wm. C. Allen

In 1936 in a publication entitled 'Cookery - Illustrated and Household Management'  there was reference to the "Nursery Breakfast" - Young children should have milk at every meal, fresh fruit and vegetables, such a raw carrot - preferably grated - and two or three eggs a week. The advice on purchasing carrots was that they should be firm, crisp and medium sized. (picture above)
 

Also in 1937 the list of carrot seeds available became even more extensive - Altringham, Demi Longue, Early Market, Ideal, James Intermediate, Long Surrey, Primo and Selected - Thomas Smith, "Profitable Culture of Vegetables".

1939/45 - World War Two, revived the popularity of the carrot and gave it a rightful place in the kitchen elevated to a new high as a major food source.

The full impact of the re-discovery of carrots is described in the page dedicated to how the humble carrot helped win the war! Here

'Doctor Carrot' had arrived. The Ministry of Food promoted carrots heavily as a substitute for other more scarce vegetables.

To improve its blandness, people were encouraged to enjoy the healthy carrot in different ways by promoting various recipes such as curried carrot, carrot jam and a homemade drink called Carrolade, made up from the juices of carrots and Swede grated and squeezed through a piece of muslin.

In wartime Britain children would very often use the humble carrot as a substitute for the fruit they could no longer obtain. Similarly the Government also issued a poster with the slogan 'Carrots keep you healthy and help you see in the blackout' to promote the humble carrot.

Toffee could be made from treacle syrup, sugar, cocoa and dried milk powder. Kids made toffee carrots in place of toffee apples.

Dig For Victory  - In October 1939 Rob Hudson, Minister for Agriculture, announced "We want not only the big man with the plough but the little man with the spade to get busy this autumn... Let 'Dig for Victory' be the motto of everyone with a garden". It was a desperate request, for farmers could only produce 30% of the country's food. But if gardens could be turned over to growing food rather than flowers, up to 25% of the necessary vegetables could be provided.  The Dig for Victory Campaign was a huge success, mirrored in the USA by the Dig for Plenty programme and associated Victory Gardens, Dig for Victory was very successful. From a total of 815,000 allotments in 1939 the number rose to 1,400,000 by 1943. People at all levels of society ate took nutrition more seriously and fed their families sensibly with the rations and whatever vegetables and fruit were available, and with less sugar and fewer sweet snacks there was less tooth decay. As a whole the population was slimmer and healthier, than it is today.   People ate less fat, sugar and meat and many more vegetables. Lots more on the World War Two page, including war time recipes, leaflets and posters. Disney characters created to promote the consumption of carrot, and how carrots helped with the battle in the air, with "super sighted" fighter pilots. All here.

Carrot advert which appeared in Country Life in the UK in 1943

"The ABC of Vegetable Gardening" published in 1948 (W E Shellwell Cooper) listed the following carrots seeds for sale - Altrincham, Amsterdam Forcing, Autumn King, Chantenay, Demi Longue a Forcer, Early Gem, Early Horn, Early Nantes, Extra Early French Shorthorn, James' Scarlet Intermediate, Long Red Surrey and St. Valery

In the 1960's, like so many vegetables, carrots suffered under large-scale food production and industrial distribution methods, where taste was secondary to whether a vegetable could survive packaging and transport. It’s said that suppliers would drop sacks of carrots on the floor and the variety that remained in tact was the one chosen. This resulted in the death of old favourites, not least the Chantenay, which had a reputation as a hard carrot to grow. 

Luckily this variety has made quite a comeback because of its lovely sweet taste.  Chantenay Carrots, "The everyday carrots you really can enjoy every day!" - Visit Chantenay Carrots for more information.

Because of this vegetable's inherent sweetness, it has been used for desserts and sweets long before the ubiquitous carrot cake. The Irish and English make a carrot pudding, the French make a cream with candied slivers of carrots in it, "tzimmes" a sweet carrot stew, is traditional for the Jewish New Year and early New Englanders gave carrot cookies as Christmas gifts. See the recipes page.

Are we amused now by the ancients' attaching such medical importance to the carrot? Why should we be? In America in the past 25 to 30 years the humble carrot has risen from an obscure root, considered mainly as a delicacy for horses, to a position of genuine importance as human food.

How did it happen? Our doctors and nutrition experts made us believe carrots are "good for us"; we know that varieties with a deep orange colour are rich in carotene, or provitamin A, found also in other yellow vegetables and in green leaves. Vitamin A is found in such foods of animal origin as fish-liver oils, butter, and egg yolks.

Perhaps the ancient Greeks were the real discoverers of the benefit of carrots in the diet. However, they did not know the reasons and lacked the teaching facilities used to induce us to eat our carrots. Carrots are as important a food to modern man as they were to our early ancestors. Because they are nutrient-dense, portable, delicious and versatile, they meet the needs of today's lifestyles and fit into today's dietary guidelines. Check out the Nutrition pages.

The popular carrot, in its orange colour, rules the western carrot world. There are literally hundreds of varieties to choose from. The most widely favoured are Autumn King and Early Scarlet Horn.

In China and Japan yellow and red varieties are very popular. The purple carrot is making a comeback and is proving popular in several American States.

Many countries are now marketing "rainbow" carrots, mixed bags of red, yellow, white, purple and orange carrots and this novelty attraction seems to be successful.

Modern selection and breeding now concentrates on producing strains with an even colouring, size and tender flavour. Greater resistance to bolting is also another aim of growers. Control over the serious pest, carrot fly seems to depend on the levels of phenolic acid in the roots. The carrot fly larvae appear to avoid strains low in acid content.

The cause of cavity spot was only discovered in 1980. Now identified as an infection caused by an air borne fungus (Pythium Volae). Another serious pest is Sclerotina Rot, also caused by a fungus. The black fruiting bodies over winter in the soil and germinate during the spring. At present there is no remedy for this affliction and all contaminated roots must be destroyed. Today there are hundreds of varieties to choose from. The most widely favoured variety must be "Autumn King" with the "Early Scarlet Horn" a close second.

The challenge to plant breeding today is to forecast the variety features required to cope with uncertain growing conditions tomorrow. Plant breeders in particular those working with biennial crops such as carrots, are used to anticipating the demand for novel varieties by market gardeners 10-20 years ahead. As climate models predict increasing drought stress conditions in agricultural production areas in the next few decades, it is only prudent and consequent to search for drought tolerant germplasm today.

Baby Carrots

A "true" baby carrot is a carrot grown to the "baby stage", which is to say long before the root reaches its mature size. These immature roots are preferred by some people out of the belief that they are superior either in texture, nutrition or taste. They are also sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop thinning, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop. Certain cultivars of carrots have been bred to be used at the "baby" stage. One such cultivar is 'Amsterdam Forcing'.

"Manufactured" baby carrots are what you see most often in the shops - these are carrot-shaped slices of peeled and tumbled carrots, invented in the late 1980's as a way of making use of carrots which are too twisted or knobbly for sale as "full-size" carrots.  They're passed out on airplanes and sold in plastic containers designed to fit in a car's cup holder. At Disney World, burgers now come two ways: with fries or baby carrots.

Read the full Baby Carrot Story here. Digging the Baby Carrot.

The Future - A Rainbow Carrot?

How do you get people to eat more carrots? You excite their senses. Surprise them, say, with unexpected colour and explosive flavour. It’s a worthwhile tack to take, says Philipp Simon, plant geneticist at the Vegetable Crops Research Unit in Madison, Wisconsin. He should know. Simon, who heads the ARS laboratory on the University of Wisconsin campus, helped elevate the humble carrot to its current prestigious position. Thanks to work he did with colleagues more than 25 years ago, the carrot is now an even better source of dietary vitamin A.

Using classical breeding methods, they helped boost the veggie’s already abundant stores of beta-carotene by 75 percent. Beta-carotene is what our bodies use to make all-important vitamin A, which is crucial for good eye health and a strong immune system. It’s also responsible for the carrot’s orange hue.

Simon would like to sneak in other nutrients too. That’s why, several years ago, he got to wondering: Why settle for just orange? After all, 700 years ago Western Europeans were feasting on carrots that ranged in colour from lemon-yellow to burgundy to purple. We can have the same variety today—and the healthful antioxidants associated with those brightly coloured pigments.

In addition to breeding yellow, red, deep-orange, purple, and even white carrots, Simon aims to create a “rainbow” carrot - a multi-pigmented root that naturally contains several antioxidants, such as lycopene, lutein, and anthocyanin.

Fuel for Cars?

Scientists now believe that bio fuels will be the answer to our energy needs when the oil runs out. One such fuel, perhaps within 10 years, will be carrots - it would take approximately 6000 carrots to drive one mile.

Scientists unveil New 'supercarrot' (from the BBC, Spring 2008)

The new carrot could ward off osteoporosis Scientists in the US say they have created a genetically-engineered carrot that provides extra calcium. They hope that adding the vegetable to a normal diet could help ward off conditions such as brittle bone disease and osteoporosis. Someone eating the new carrot absorbs 41% more calcium than if they ate the old, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study suggests.

The calcium-charged vegetable still needs to go through many safety trials. "These carrots were grown in carefully monitored and controlled environments," said Professor Kendal Hirschi, part of the team at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Much more research needs to be conducted before this would be available to consumers Professor Kendal Hirschi Baylor College of Medicine "Much more research needs to be conducted before this would be available to consumers." But the scientists nonetheless hope their carrot could ultimately offer a healthier way of consuming sufficient quantities of the mineral.

Dairy foods are the primary dietary source of calcium but some are allergic to these while others are told to avoid consuming too much due to their high fat content. A gene has been altered in the carrot which allows the calcium within it to cross more easily over the plant membranes. On its own, the carrot would not meet the daily requirement of 1,000mg of calcium, but if other vegetables were similarly engineered, intake could be increased dramatically.

It is not the first time the carrot has been tampered with. The orange colour we know is the result of Dutch cultivation in the 17th Century, when patriotic growers turned a vegetable which was then purple into the colour of the national flag. Nor is it the first vegetable to receive a healthy make-over. Genetic engineering is being used to develop potatoes with more starch and less water so that they absorb less oil when fried, producing healthier chips or crisps. Work is also being carried out on broccoli so that it contains more sulforaphane, a chemical which may help people ward off cancer.

Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait of the University of East Anglia said genetically engineering foods to increase their nutrient content was becoming an increasingly important avenue. "People are being told to eat more modestly to prevent weight gain, and many diets now no longer contain everything we need. "There has been great resistance to genetic engineering, but gradually we are moving away from the spectre of 'Frankenstein food' and starting to appreciate the health benefits it may bring."

Also!!

Researchers have created a new genetically engineered carrot that has 41 percent more calcium than the regular carrot, reports a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Altering a gene boosts levels of transporter proteins, which pump calcium from the soil into the plant. This kind of technology could help combat conditions like osteoporosis. The carrots may become available within three to five years (from 2008) .  Read more here

In the US a typical carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to reach your dinner table! (Source: Pirog, Rich, and Andrew Benjamin. "Checking the Food Odometer: Comparing Food Miles for Local Versus Conventional Produce Sales in Iowa Institutions." Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, July 2003. httptp://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/food_travel072103.pdf)

Some modern varieties from Nunhems
Indigo	Sunlite	Creme de lite	Inca
Navajo	Sirkana	Top cut	Black Knight

Standard Carrots - “This marks a new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the knobbly carrot,”

European Union bureaucrats are to usher in a new age of acceptance when it comes to knobbly fruit and vegetables, scrapping the rules dictating that only "standard" size carrots can be sold in shops.

Misshapen and blemished fruit and vegetables are likely to find their way back on to supermarket shelves – although they may be labelled "for cooking" under reforms being proposed by the EU's Danish Agriculture and Rural Development commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel.

" We want to have two classes, allowing supermarkets to sell funny shaped vegetables," said Michael Mann, a spokesman for the European Commission.

Ms Fischer Boel wants to abandon the eccentric rules that brought scorn on the EU and led to criticism that perfectly formed harvests had been achieved at the expense of taste.  The rules specify the diameter of carrots that can be sold as class one, unless they are officially regarded as baby carrots.  The Commission will now formally adopt the changes which, for practical reasons, will be implemented from 1 July 2009.

This rule will be scrapped:

"Carrots - Carrots less than 1.9cm in diameter at the thick end could not be sold as class one, unless marketed as "baby" varieties."
 

The carrot is one of the most important vegetables in the western world.

The simple, wild tap root eaten by our Neolithic ancestors has come a very long way!.

Reference material is here.

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