DOWN on the FARM
with Tom Willey
“It’s the kiss of frost that puts the flavor in Root Vegetables.”
We first grew carrots just for our family and selected the Nantes for its sweetness, knowing that this variety is too delicate for mechanical harvesting. We thought we could never grow them commercially, but visitors to our farm kept begging us to make them available in stores. Bunched carrots are your guarantee of freshness, but remove the tops promptly to preserve the carrot’s flavor after you get home.
Carrots were once highly prized both as an exotic food and delicate ornament. Ladies of the Stuart court pinned the young feathery plumage of carrots on their splendid hats!
Beta-carotene is a deep-orange compound abundant in Nantes Carrots, sweet potatoes, and cantaloupes. Populations whose diets are naturally high in Beta-carotene have low incidence of lung, colon, prostate, cervical and breast cancer.
Unlike the bright orange varieties most familiar in this country, ancient Carrots derived from purple species first grown in Afghanistan during the seventh century. The Moors brought seeds of purple carrots, together with a yellow mutant variety, to Western Europe. From these, Dutch gardeners developed the orange carrot during the Middle Ages. Some are under the mistaken impression that “orange carrots are not that nutritious.” Beta-carotene is a deep-orange compound abundant in carrots, sweet potatoes, and cantaloupes.