by Sataporn Lertkamala
A Carrot (Daucus carota) is a root vegetable, usually orange or white in color with a woody texture. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot. It is a biennial plant which grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer while building up the stout taproot, which stores large amounts of sugars for the plant to flower in the second year. The flowering stem grows to about 1 m tall, with umbels of white flowers. Carrots can be eaten raw, whole, chopped, grated into salads for color or texture, and are also often chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups and stews. A well known dish is Carrots Julienne. Grated carrots are used in carrot cakes and carrot puddings. The greens are edible as a leaf vegetable, but are rarely eaten. Together with onion and celery, carrots are one of the primary vegetables used in a mirepoix to make various broths.
Since the late 1980s, baby carrots or mini carrots, carrots that have been peeled and cut into uniform cylinders, have been a popular ready-to-eat snack food in many supermarkets.
β-carotene, a dimer of Vitamin A, is abundant in the carrot and gives this vegetable its characteristic orange color. Furthermore, carrots are rich in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Carrot juice is also widely marketed. Ethnomedically, the roots are used to treat digestive problems, intestinal parasites, and tonsilitis.
History
The wild ancestors of the carrot are likely to have come from Afghanistan, which remains the center of diversity of D. carota. The familiar wild plant wild carrot, sometimes called Queen Anne's lace, is the same species as the garden carrot (which was bred from it); garden carrots that run to seed soon revert to their wild prototype, with a forking carroty-smelling, edible root that quickly becomes too woody and bitter to eat.
In early use, carrots were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds, not their roots. The first mention of the root in classical sources is in the 1st century CE. The modern carrot appears to have been introduced to Europe in the 8-10th centuries; Ibn al-Awam, in Andalusia, describes both 'red' and 'yellow' carrots; Simeon Seth also mentions both colors in the 11th century. Orange-colored carrots appear in the Netherlands in the 17th century.[1]
In addition, these historical common names: Bee's-nest, Bee's-nest plant, Bird's-nest, Bird's-nest plant, Bird's-nest root, Carota, Carotte (French), Carrot, Common carrot, Crow's-nest, Daucon, Dawke, Devil's-plague, Fiddle, Gallicam, Garden carrot, Gelbe Rübe (German), Gingidium, Hill-trot, Laceflower, Mirrot, Möhre (German), Parsnip (misapplied), Queen Anne's lace, Rantipole, Staphylinos, Wild carrot, and Zanahoria are used by Daucus carota. [2]
The parsnip is a close relative of the carrot.
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