Amazing Purple Carrots

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Last year I somehow went into a store where a family from our city sells vegetables they have grown with their own hands on leased land shares. Part of the land they have given for greenhouses with phytolamps, so you can be sure of the freshness of vegetables. The vegetables there are always of good quality, you can often find something new and unusual, they love to experiment. So that time I was surprised by a seemingly familiar vegetable to everyone - carrots

The carrots were beautiful, long, not very thick, but purple in color. At first I decided that watering with some additives gave such an unusual color to the carrots. But the owner, smiling slyly, claimed that he watered them with water, fed them only with humus. And what is the secret - he did not admit. Fortunately, it was winter outside, there was plenty of time to search for information, and the Internet was always at hand. For the time remaining until spring, I found out what kind of carrots they were and also decided to conduct an experiment on growing this miracle.

Where did the purple carrot come from?

It turns out that the usual orange and golden yellow carrots were a curiosity until the 16th century. In fact, carrots, discovered and cultivated by people from ancient times until about the 16th century, had a rich purple color. Occasionally there were rhizomes of red, white, even green and black colors! But the color we are now used to was brought out by Dutch breeders in the 16th century. So now, growing carrots of an outlandish color, we, it turns out, are returning to its original appearance.

Why are purple carrots good for you?

We all know that every vegetable contains certain vitamins and brings some benefit. What's good about purple carrots? Firstly, it is rich in vitamins A, B, C, E. Secondly, the content of beta-carotene, for which any carrot is so famous, in a purple root vegetable is several times higher than in the usual orange one. Thirdly, purple carrots contain a number of macro- and microelements necessary for humans.

It is believed that purple carrots have anti-inflammatory effects, help strengthen immunity, help improve vision, stabilize cholesterol levels, and help lower blood pressure. In addition, there is information (but I cannot vouch for the accuracy) that the carotenoid lutein contained in purple carrots slows down the growth of cancer (oncological) cells.

Growing purple carrots

First of all, I want to say that when looking for seeds, I came across the fact that there are not so many varieties of purple (purple) carrots, so the choice is limited. I found only 4 types of varieties (and even then, some were only on the Internet, and only 1 species on sale, purple dragon): purple dragon, purple elixir, purple haze F1, Cosmic Purple.

I grew it in the same way as ordinary carrots: in April (when the ground was already warm, it warmed up enough) on a bed prepared for carrots in the fall (there were few seeds in the bag and only 1 row turned out), I made a groove, with the help of a seeder, I scattered seeds at a distance of about 5 centimeters from each other, sprinkled on top with a mixture of earth with sand and humus, took everything in equal parts. I planted the seeds in wet soil!

After about 8-10 days, the first shoots appeared. To avoid freezing from unexpected spring frosts, she covered with foil overnight.

Carrot care turned out to be simple and did not differ from carrot care usually: watering, loosening, removing weeds. It's simple. At the end of summer, she dug up the harvest. Carrots are not very large, about 15 centimeters long, 2-3 centimeters in diameter. The taste is unusual, sweet and at the same time slightly spicy. Inside, the carrots are orange.