30 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Carrot | Amazing Facts 4U
- Carrots originated in Afghanistan or possibly Iran and have been cultivated for over 5,000 years.
- The ancient Greeks cultivated carrots and passed them onto the Romans. The carrot had traveled to China, Japan, and India by the 13th century.
- The name “carrot” comes from the Greek word “karoton.”
- Carrots were among the first crops brought to America by the colonists in Jamestown in 1607. California is the top fresh carrot producer in the United States, while Washington is the top producer of carrots meant for canning and other processing.
- Carrots were first grown as a medicine not a food mainly for their leaves and seeds rather than their roots.
- In the 16th century, the orange carrot was specially developed in the Netherlands in honor of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family. Yellow carrots were cross-bred with red carrots.
- Newly orange, carrots traveled England with Dutch travelers during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
- China is the world’s top carrot producer with 45% of world production followed by Russia and the United States. The carrot is in the top 10 of most important global vegetable crops.
- There are over 100 species of edible carrots today. Amazingly the original carrots were white, purple, red or yellow but not orange.
- Carrots are the second most popular type of vegetable after potatoes.
- Carrots are a biennial. They store energy their first year of life in the root and in the second year, they flower, seed and die.
- It is estimated that the average person will consume about 11,000 carrots in a lifetime.
- Carrots are about 87% water. They get their color from beta carotene which gets converted to vitamin A as needed in the body providing 30% of Vitamin A in U.S. diet.
- It is impossible to get vitamin A poisoning from carrots, as vitamin A is not directly available.
- Amazing fact is that Carrot seeds are so small that 2,000 can fit in a teaspoon making it difficult to plant by hand. Carrot seeds are often covered in clay to make a large pellet, sewn into strips of paper, or mixed with sand to ease planting by hand.
- Unlike most vegetables, carrots are more nutritious when eaten cooked than eaten raw as carrots have tough indigestible cellular walls. Cooking partially dissolves thickened cell walls freeing up nutrients. It is better to boil or steam carrots whole and then cut them up. If they are cut first, much of the nutrients will be lost.
- Cooking the carrots in fat or oils or juicing them increases the availability of carotenoids by 600 %. Fats also help the absorption of carotenoids into the blood by 1,000 %, as carotenoids are fat soluble, so pour a little oil on top!
- A medium-size carrot has 25 calories, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of fiber. It is an excellent source of vitamin A, providing more than 200% of your daily requirement in just one carrot. One glass of milk contains the same amount of calcium as in 9 carrots.
- Consuming 2 carrots a day lowers cholesterol levels by 20 % due to a soluble fiber called calcium pectate which bind with bile acids.
- The world longest carrot was measured to be 19 feet 1 7/8 inches (5.839 metres). The heaviest one ever grown weighted 9.07 Kg.
- The natural sugars and sweetness of carrots allow them to be used in carrot cakes. In India they are used as desserts, while countries such as Portugal use carrots in jam. Carrot juice is widely consumed as a health drink.
- Carrots contain more sugar than any other vegetable, except for beets. Attempts have been made to extract sugar from Carrots, but the resulting thick syrup refuses to crystallize and has not proved commercially successful.
- Carrots were the first vegetable to be canned commercially.
- Eating too many carrots can lead to “carotenemia” which causes the skin to turn yellowish orange, especially on the palms or soles of the feet. The condition is harmless and reversible once the consumption is reduced.
- Carrots have many medicinal properties. They can repair damaged cells, maintain health of the skin, serve as good antiseptic for skin, cure eye diseases, clean your mouth from bacteria, regulate alkaline ratio of your body, treat worms in children, improve breast milk in women, restore regular function of liver, regulate blood pressure etc.
- Studies have shown carrots reduce the risk of lung cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer.
- In a Harvard University study, people who ate 5 or more carrots a week were less likely to suffer a stroke than those who ate only one carrot a month or less.
- Amazingly Carrots produce more distilled spirit than potatoes.
- Tobacconists in France used to put a carrot in their bins to keep their tobacco from drying out.
- The research into biofuels reveals that Carrot may be one of the sources. However, it would take approximately 6000 carrots to drive one mile.
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