Topic: Best carrots I have ever grown!

[Chris Graham]

Lifted my carrots that I had sown back in April and they look amazing.

They were planted in a deep raised bed and although some of the yellow and purple ones had bolted the ones that were left had grown very well.

Lyra, my daughter, is getting purple carrot for her first solid food, how cool is that!

[beanie3]

Wow ;D

[grahamatlocking]

OMG! I've never seen purple carrots before, do they just turn out like that or do you get special seeds??

G

[jonny211]

Cool - do they stay that colour after cooking???

Jon

[kt.]

OMG! I've never seen purple carrots before,

Me neither. :o

[loopyloulou]

proud mum of 2 that is very cool  8) where did u get the seed from my kids would love to try purple carrots! they adore the normal variety and were vv proud of 2 stubby ones we managed to grow and are checking on the next lot weve sown (in a pot, fingers crossed!!!)

oooh gross thought, will she have purple poop like when u feed them blueberrys??
sorry!!! tmi!!! but youll find out what i mean if youre just starting to wean!! lol!

[littlebabybird]

i'm sure there are other places but our purple carrots came from jungle seeds (.com)

[grahamatlocking]

I found this link but I dont no if it will work.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=1&subcategory=16&source=googlep_carrot_seeds&ct=hg&gclid=CMKz_P704JQCFQSwFQodvicKTA&item=2642

[GrannieAnnie]

Do the purple ones taste different?  What an attractive crop you grew!

[Gobby]

Purple carrots have less taste in my opinion but have more beta carotene, they look great though, you can buy a variety called purple haze from suttons though i bet alot more places sell them.

Sad info incomming...

(They were actually the first carrot grown on uk soil as they were brought back from the crusades that stretched into afghanistan, we only grow the orange ones now because of the dutch royal family.)

and more interesting facts.. http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/

[Chris Graham]

Thanks everyone, the purple carrots dont keep their colour if cooked. It was just really a novelty to grow them.  But like I said I did have a few problems with some bolting.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Carrots probably came from Afghanistan, which is probably what you meant to say, but the Crusades never got half that far! They reached Jerusalem, till Saladin threw them out, then held part of the coast of Palestine for a while till Beybars' victories in 1263 left them too weakened to hang on. For all the palaver, they didn't really achieve very much beyond a lot of slaughter.

[keef]

Purple carrots have less taste in my opinion but have more beta carotene, they look great though, you can buy a variety called purple haze from suttons though i bet alot more places sell them.

Sad info incomming...

(They were actually the first carrot grown on uk soil as they were brought back from the crusades that stretched into afghanistan, we only grow the orange ones now because of the dutch royal family.)

and more interesting facts.. http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/

On a tangent...

Interesting...it mentions on the site that commercial growers "hydro-cool" carrots. After searching about a bit, this seems to mean they cool carrots in very cold water before storage (in a coldroom i assume). This prevents the carrots de-hydrating whilst in storage...

I always find pulled carrots only last a few days in the fridge - before they go all floppy. Perhaps this is the way to prevent this from happening.

[calendula]

I grew white, yellow and purple carrots last year, lovely and sorry to be contrary but mine did keep their colour and I thought they tasted full of flavour - think I got them from Real Seeds  :)

[Chris Graham]

I grew white, yellow and purple carrots last year, lovely and sorry to be contrary but mine did keep their colour and I thought they tasted full of flavour - think I got them from Real Seeds  :)

Interesting and I steamed them. 

[jesssands]

heres my carrot crop, pulled them yesterday. Had to get them out cos the snails were starting to eat them. Was amazed how many snail eggs and baby snails were there too, must have been a really nice breeding ground! wont be so nice now with no carrots to eat... ha ha

[grahamatlocking]

wow, when I grew carrots when I was younger they come out of the ground looking small and just rubbish, You guys have done a great job growing these. Well done.

G :)

[star]

Lovely carrots !!

I grew Purple Dragon last year.....beautiful and they kept their colour after cooking.

Growing Purple Haze this year......just as nice but not quite as sweet as last years 'Dragon'. These also keep their colour on cooking.  ;)

[KathrynH]

They look fantastic, and so glad to hear people bringing up their kids to eat vegetables! There is hope after all!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I don't think it's the veg themselves which are the problem, so much as the way they've traditionally been cooked in Britain!