Charismatic Carrots

WHICH CARROTS DO YOU LIKE?

We have many many enquiries about carrots and they are a variety that features regularly in our Top 20 sellers. In fact, the organic Carrot Tendersweet has been our biggest seller in our entire range this past spring season. As we have approximately 1000 varieties, this is a great accolade indeed.

Carrots tend to be a staple in the vegetable bin in most households with everyone enjoying the sweet crunchy taste and texture. They are a very versatile vegetable too as they can be eaten raw or cooked, roasted, barbequed, grated, mashed. The options are endless for all the family, including your dog. Adding carrot to your dog's food is nutritious, either raw or cooked. We give our dogs a whole carrot as a treat once a week which provides them with a no sugar tooth-cleaner. For smaller dogs, it is best to chop them up into small pieces but the medium to large dogs will handle the whole carrot like a bone.

What are the components of a carrot?

Carrots are usually made up of about 88% water, 7% sugar, 1% protein, 1% fibre, 1% ash and 0.2% fat. This makes them a great low-calorie snack or addition to meals. The sugar content is also sufficient to make them a good base for cakes, desserts and drinks.

What is the best way to store carrots?

They can be stored in a bag in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.

Carrots with the greens still attached is a great way of keeping them fresh for longer, so refrain from chopping off all the greens when you pick them from the garden if you will have them in the fridge for more than a couple of days. Buying carrots from the markets with the greens still attached is also guaranteed to help them last longer.

Why are some of the most popular carrots not in our catalogue?

Unfortunately, carrots have become harder and harder to import as they now require testing for several diseases before coming into NZ. Only a couple of our suppliers are set up to do the required tests, so they are the only ones we can source carrot seed from. This limits our range to what these few suppliers harvest, meaning our carrot varieties have decreased significantly. In the past, we had a best-seller Rainbow Carrot Blend which featured red, white, yellow, purple and orange carrots, Carrot Berlicum and Carrot Touchon and we are still taking a lot of enquiries about these favourite varieties. We continuously research other options for supply of these favourites.

A few quick serving ideas.....

Grated:

• Grated raw carrots and chopped carrot greens are great added to salads.

• Grated beetroot and carrots go together really well. Combine grated carrots, beets & apples for a yummy refreshing salad.

Soup:

• For quick, nutritious soup, puree boiled carrots and potatoes in a blender or food processor, then add herbs and spices to taste. This soup can be served hot or cold.

Sticks:

• Spiced carrot sticks are a different way to present an old favourite on your platters or on your dinner plate. Soak the carrot sticks in hot water spiced with chilli or cayenne, coriander & cumin seeds and salt. Allow to cool, drain and serve.

Roasted:

• Roast chunks of carrot or whole baby carrots after tossing in oil, garlic and balsamic or fruit vinegar.

• Everyone loves a chip so use carrots instead of your normal potato or kumara. Cut into long chunks or strips and cook as you would potato wedges or chunky chips adding your favourite seasoning (cajun, lemon pepper, tuscan, etc).

Mashed:

• Not just for the babies. Mash cooked carrots and celeriac with a dollop of butter, salt & pepper. Serve smooth or leave a few chunks for texture.

• Use chicken stock to flavour mashed carrot.

BBQ:

• Drizzle with maple syrup, sprinkle with chopped spring onions & crumble a bit of feta over the carrots, then wrap in a tinfoil parcel & cook on the bbq. Chop into large chunks if big carrots or use whole baby carrots.

NOTE:

It is not always necessary to peel carrots. In most of the above scenarios, where the carrot is being cooked, it is sufficient to just give the carrots a good scrub prior to cooking. Peeling a carrot does not remove the majority of vitamins as the carrot skin contains concentrated vitamin C and niacin but just under the peel, the next layer also has these vitamins, as well as vitamin A.

Can you eat too many carrots?

There is some truth behind the fact that eating massive amounts of carrots can sometimes cause a person's skin to turn yellowish-orange. This colouration will be most noticeable on the palms or soles of feet and is called carotenemia. However, the consumption required to affect this change is high and tends to happen when consuming copious amounts of carrot juice. It is completely fixable just by reducing your carrot intake.

AND...........

The urban legend that 'eating large quantities of carrots helps us to see in the dark' was developed from stories that started in World War II. British gunners were shooting down German planes at night and to cover up the fact that it was the effective use of radar technologies that was achieving this, the RAF circulated a story about their pilots' high level of carrot consumption.