General Description/History

• Closely related to celery, parsnip and dill
• A root crop
• Bright orange root, green feathery leaves
• Tapering shape.

Select carrots with good colour, bright orange – orange/red. Avoid cracked or sprouting carrots. Carrots should be firm and straight, showing no signs of bending or limpness.

Wash in cold water, peel thinly or use unpeeled. Trim the top and tail. Use whole, sliced, diced, julienned or grated in casseroles, soups, salads or cakes.

Carrots are grown from seed directly sown. Seeds usually germinate three – seven days after planting and emerge 6-15 days after planting.

The carrot is a temperate climate crop. In cooler climates it is grown throughout the year but summer production is difficult as high temperatures shorten the period of development and reduce yields. Carrots require nutritious soil and frequent irrigation throughout the growth stage.

Originating in Europe, the earliest known written records of the carrot come from Spain in the twelfth century. In fourteenth century Holland, fashionable ladies decorated their hair with the feathery leaves of the carrot.

Nutritional Value

An excellent source of vitamin A, a useful source of vitamin C and a good source of dietary fibre. 105kJ/100g.

Storage/Handling

0°C and 90 – 100% relative humidity.

Consumer Storage: Store unwashed in and airtight plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper.

Interesting Facts and Myths?

In the 17th century it was said that Dutch cows fed on carrots yielded the richest milk and the yellowest butter. While butter makers in other parts of Europe, using less well fed cows, coloured their butter by adding carrot juice to the churn.

In the 17th century English women often wore carrot leaves in their hats in place of flowers or feathers.

Carrots were first cultivated in Afghanistan in the 7th century; they were red, black yellow, white, purple – but never orange. The Dutch developed the orange carrot. In the 17th century the French developed the elongated carrot, ancestor of the ones we eat today. The English brought the carrot to the New World.

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, was not very fond of carrots.

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Botanical Name: Daucus carota Sativus Group (Umbelliferae)

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Growing Areas: 

QLD – Atherton Tablelands, Darling Downs, Fassifern Valley, Kalbar, Lockyer Valley.
NSW – Central Coast, Dareton, Finley, Gosford, Griffith, Hunter Valley, Sunraysia, Windsor.
VIC – Melbourne Metropolitan Area, Mornington Peninsula, Sunraysia.
TAS – North West Coast
SA – Adelaide Hills, Adelaide Plains, Riverland.
WA – Perth Metropolitan Outer Areas.