3 WAYS WITH CARROTS + HOW TO GROW THEM
Did you know that carrots are believed to have originated in Afghanistan around 900 AD, and that the earliest species were a dark purple or yellow? You do now!
One of my favourite varieties to grow are the yellow carrots – I call them sunshine sticks. The orange carrots we know today as ‘normal’ carrots are thought to have been developed in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Did your mum or dad tell you to eat your carrots so you could see in the dark? Well, there’s some truth in that because orange carrots are high in beta-carotene, which our bodies convert into vitamin A, which is vital to eye health. Yellow carrots are high in lutein, which is a carotenoid known to help with macular degeneration, a serious and common eye condition.
Carrots are a reliable source of other good stuff too; in fact, as well as providing over 70 per cent of an adult’s recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin A, half a cup of raw carrot supplies small amounts of vitamins B6, B9 (folate), C and K, as well as iron,
