Nutritional value
Vitamin A, B6, B1, B2, C, K, calcium, carotene and potassium.
Storage
In the fridge for a couple of weeks or more.
Season
June to February for bunched with leafage. All year for loose, stored carrots.
Choose
Firm not flaccid. Small carrots are more tender than large.
Uses
Raw in salads, soups, cakes, curries, roasted with honey, juiced in drinks - lets face it - carrot is THE all rounder.
Recipe
What's up Doc?
Carrots
Daucus carota
Arguable the most well know root vegetable. Wild carrots have a white tap roots, but over the centuries a rainbow of colours have emerged in cultivation - orange, red, purple and yellow, depending on presence of anthocyanin.
A member of the Umbelliferae family, hand in hand with coriander, celeriac, fennel, angelica, parsnip, hemlock, to name but a few.
Starting firstly with the Romans, red, yellow and purple carrots have been grown for centuries throughout Europe, until the 17th century when Holland developed the orange specimen we know today.
A snack in itself.