Have you ever seen a carrot???????????? Now you must be thinking what kind of question is that. I mean obviously everyone has seen carrots so what’s the big deal about that. Since KG we have heard our parents saying that,”you should eat carrots its good for your eyes.” Now if I ask you have you ever seen white carrot?????? And no I’m not talking about the radish. I’m talking about carrot which all of us have seen either as red colored or sometimes maybe as orange, but white????? Nah! Or how about purple, and I’m not talking about some elongated turnip or something else.
Then Why Do We See Only Orange Carrots???????
Carrots have been cultivated as far as back as 2000-3000 BC. They originated in Persia. Their seeds have been found even in Sweden and Germany. Even in there are record of purple carrots in Asia even in 10th century. Then why and how did boring orange carrots become famous??????
Well for this you need to thank the “William of Orange” in 17th century. In Netherlands in 16th century as a tribute to the Dutch prince cultivators started growing orange carrots who led the struggle for independence. He had orange colour in his flag as a result the farmers started growing the orange carrot. It was a symbol of offensive tribute to monarchy. After forcing the reigning descendant of William of Orange to leave The Hague, the Patriots declared that orange was “the color of sedition…carrots sold with their roots too conspicuously showing were deemed provocative.
Even though many claim that this is not true.
Whatever may the case people accepted the new carrot easily as it was not bitter and minimal wooden core.
Other than the usual orange carrots there are many other coloured carrots
Purple Carrot: Is the deep purple or almost black carrots, which originally were famous before came the orange carrots. The purple/black colour is due to presence of the pigment anthocyanins, which is a flavonoid pigments. Here’s a list of some of the most common purple and black carrot varieties:
Purple carrot has many health benefits which are not there in the orange carrots and some benefits are same as that of orange carrots:-
Just like the orange carrots the purple carrots too have carotenoids. With purple haze having a significantly high amount of carotenoids, though not as high as the orange carrot.
In purple carrots the amount of the lutein is significantly high as compared to the orange carrots.
Purple carrots have high amounts of anthocyanins, hence have high anti-oxidant properties.
Purple carrots provide protection against the colon cancer as it has anthocyanins, mainly the lutein.
It has anti-inflammatory properties which according to many researches is even stronger than the aspirin. So in short it can help in preventing many inflammatory related diseases such as the rheumatoid arthritis.
Just like the orange carrot, the purple carrot also is good for the health of eyes, especially if you are getting old.
It helps in promoting the vascular health. The presences of the anthocyanins helps in neutralizing the enzymes that destroy the connective tissue thus degenerating the vascular system.
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White Carrots or Parsnips ……???
These are actually not carrots but are called parsnips. Unlike the carrots it is sweet and was in medieval times used as a sweetener before cane sugar came into existence in Europe. The parsnip was much esteemed, and the Emperor Tiberius accepted part of the tribute
payable to Rome by Germany in the form of parsnips. These are differen types of parsnips:-
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Just like the coloured carrots, parsnips or the white carrots too have many health benefits
Similar to the purple carrots, parsnips too have antioxidantssuch as falcarinol, falcarindiol, panaxydiol, and methyl-falcarindiol, which may potentially have anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antifungal
Parsnips have high level of potassium and folate which help in lowering blood pressure and haemocysteine levels in the blood. Hence leading to a healthy cardiovascular system.
Parsnips because of high level of dissolvable fibre help in reducing/preventing cholesterol and diabetes.
Because of its high fibre content helps in preventing constipation and other gastrointestinal problems.
Folate alsohelps in reducing neural tube birth defects in infants and optimizing metabolic processes.
Folate helps in lowering levels of depression if consumed regularly.
It prevents the release of gherlin aka the hunger hormone and thus helping in weight loss and preventing obesity.
Parsnips have vitamins E&C which have anti-oxidant properties and thus can help in preventing much health related issues and disease even cancer.
It is also rich in folic acid,vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin, and pantothenic acid as well as vitamin K and vitamin E, iron, calcium, copper, potassium, manganese and phosphorus.
Parsnips offer additional health benefits from their manganese and vitamin K content. Both nutrients play an important role in the health of your bones. Manganese helps you produce sex hormones, while vitamin K proves essential to blood clotting.
Yellow carrots are yellow in colour due to presences of xanthophylls and lutein. Yellow carrots came from middle yeast. These carrots are slightly sweeter than the orange carrots
There is a high presence of carotenoids lutein, which gets absorbed as vitamin A in body hence it is really good for health of eyes. It also helps in preventing cataract.
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Also known as the “Pakistani carrot” is the commonly found in Asia. It is red due to presence of lycopene and lutein. It is originally from India and china. Atomic carrot is the most famous type of red carrot.other varieties include
Red carrots have levels of vitamin A, which is really helpful for maintaining good health of eyes and related diseases.
Presences of vitamin A also help in preventing clogging of arteries and thus help in preventing strokes.
Presences of vitamin B, C and E help to lower cholesterol and muscular degeneration.
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So next time when you feel bored with eating the same old orange carrot, do remember that in market there is more than just one type of carrot and ten even those types have uncountable sub-types.
Colourful Carrots Catalouge Have you ever seen a carrot???????????? Now you must be thinking what kind of question is that.
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