... Carrots are really easy to grow, very good for you and can be used in numerous dishes. To begin with I thought I'd tell you a few facts about the humble carrot.
Carrots have been grown for thousands of years although not as we know them today. The carrots of 5000 years ago would have been ... Read review
I love most vegetables but carrots have to be my favourite both for their sweet taste and lovely colour. Carrots are really easy to grow, very good for you and can be used in numerous dishes. To begin with I thought I'd tell you a few facts about the humble carrot.
Carrots have been grown for thousands of years although not as we know them today. The carrots of 5000 years ago would have been white, purple, red or even black. The taste ... ...Mediterranean countries. In Roman times carrots were either eaten raw with salt and olive oil or coked with a cumin sauce.
The Greeks called carrots philtrons and believed eating them would make men and women more passionate. Even in 19th century Iran it was widely believed that eating carrots could improve sperm quality.
Carrots were introduced into Britain in the 15th century. The carrot did not become orange until ... more
I love most vegetables but carrots have to be my favourite both for their sweet taste and lovely colour. Carrots are really easy to grow, very good for you and can be used in numerous dishes. To begin with I thought I'd tell you a few facts about the humble carrot.
Carrots have been grown for thousands of years although not as we know them today. The carrots of 5000 years ago would have been white, purple, red or even black. The taste would not have been sweet but bitter. Carrots were first grown in middle Asia and later brought to Mediterranean countries. In Roman times carrots were either eaten raw with salt and olive oil or coked with a cumin sauce.
The Greeks called carrots philtrons and believed eating them would make men and women more passionate. Even in 19th century Iran it was widely believed that eating carrots could improve sperm quality.
Carrots were introduced into Britain in the 15th century. The carrot did not become orange until the late 1500's and it was the Dutch who were responsible. Patriotic Dutch growers used a mutant yellow carrot seed crossed with the red variety to produce an orange carrot. The orange colour is of course a tribute to the royal Dutch house of orange.
During the Second World War pilots were given lots of carrots to eat to help improve night vision.
Nutritional information. ******************** Carrots not only taste great but they are really god for you too. Carrots contain vitamin A, B, C, D and E.They are also a good source of folic acid and magnesium.
It is the Beta Carotene in carrots that give them their orange colour. Beta Carotene is changed into Vitamin A by our bodies and used to promote cell growth and improve vision to name a few benefits. Carrots also contain anti oxidants that can help protect against sun damage. Carrots are best eaten slightly cooked; I steam carrots to get maximum nutrients. Carrots have a tough cellular structure that our bodies cannot break down when they are eaten raw, so eating raw carrots does not give you the benefits of eating them cooked. Carrot juice on the other hand can be digested, if you stomach the taste and texture, which I can't!
Growing carrots. ******************* There is nothing like the taste of a carrot you have grown yourself! Carrots are really easy to grow too. Carrot seeds are widely available and can be planted from about may. To get the best results you should dig the soil where you intend to plant in the spring, removing any stones. Carrots grow best in a sunny spot and in sandy soil. However I plant carrots in a fairly shady spot and we have clay type soil and our carrots last year were wonderful! Sow the seeds thinly in a shallow trench then cover with soil. Carrots need to be well watered. I usually sow carrot seed in May when the soil has warmed up a bit. When the seedlings start to show their heads then they will need thinning out to allow about 2 inches between plants. By July the carrots should be ready to pull up. My children love to help sow and harvest carrots. It is great fun pulling up a carrot to see how well it has grown. It is actually the taproot of the carrot that we eat. I also find my children are keen to eat vegetables they have helped to grow themselves.
Carrots can be used in numerous ways. I use them chopped in tomato sauce with pasta. They can also be pureed and used as a first weaning food for babies. I like to add a couple of carrots when I make soup. I find it adds a lovely sweet flavour.
Carrots can be used in cakes and carrot cake is my all time favourite! Carrots add texture and colour to so many meals in our family I really would be lost without them!
I think the nicest way to eat carrots is freshly picked from the garden and then lightly steamed with a little butter. If you can't grow your own then I really recommend you buy organic carrots. They taste so much sweeter and more flavoursome and are well worth the extra cost.
As you can see I love carrots and think they are the best, most versatile vegetable there is!
Advantages: good for you anf your family Disadvantages: carrot fly
Carrots are one of the easiest vegetable crops to grow, provided the soil has been well prepared. They are rich in in calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A.
Carrots can be classified in two different ways: by shape or by the time of cropping. Shapes can be basically divided into three different groups, the short kind, which are round or stumpy-rooted; the medium length type, more or less sausage-shape or with a cylindrical tapering root; and the log ... ...to intermediate or early varieties.
Carrots are basically cropped in two ways. Early, quick-growing crops are pulled when quite small and either used raw in salads or cooked. Those can be grown under glass or in the open. Their taste and texture when young are considered by many to be superior to fully mature carrots crops; they are sweeter and more tender then main crops. The larger carrots, sown later in the year and pulled for winter storage, ...
redeyes22 20.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Carrots
Advantages: Low in Calories, No fat, Good Source Of Vitamin A Disadvantages: Organic Varieties Are More Expensive
...eat up all of your Carrots 'Cause they're good for your eyesight." I always remembered this from an early age but never questioned why until I was much older. When I did eventually ask why Carrots were good for your eyesight the reply was "Have you ever seen a Rabbit wearing glasses?"
Anyway I grew to love my Fruit and Vegetables and Carrots are still one of my favourites which is why I have decided to make them the subject of this review.
The ... ...taste.
The first Cultivated Carrots in Afghanistan were yellow or Purple in colour and these varieties were brought into Southern Europe during the 12th Century by Moorish Invaders who settled in Spain, Portugal and Northern Africa. By the 14th Century Purple and Yellow Carrots were being grown in fields across Germany and France, and Black, White, Red and Green Carrots were also now being produced.
It was during the 14th Century that the Carrot ...
micksheff 26.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Carrots
Advantages: Easy to grow, can be grown in raised beds Disadvantages: None
Carrots a definitely not one of my favourite vegetables, but they are very easy to grow. They are grown as annuals (although they are really biennials). They have swollen orange taproots which may be up to 5 cm in diameter at the neck, and up to 20 cm in length. They have feathery green foliage, which grows up to 23 cm tall with a 15 cm spread. Normally, carrots are long and tapered, although some may also be rounded. There are many different types ... ...are used fresh or stored. Carrots are eaten either cooked or raw.
Carrots are a cool-season crop and are best grown in temperatures of around 16 degrees celsius. If you are planning to grow carrots, you should choose an open site on light and fertile soil. Deep-rooted types require reasonably deep, stone-free soil. Work in plenty of organic matter, preferably in the autumn before sowing. The fertile, loose soil of established raised beds is particularly ...
SnowiestElf 22.01.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Carrots
Advantages: None at all Disadvantages: They taste, smell and are just generally horrible.
...first instance.
Not liking carrots is a pain for me because there are so many foods that I have seen in the supermarket and thought that I would love to try, only to be disappointed to find out that it has carrot in it. One thing that surprised me the most was finding out that some supermarkets and food manufacturers produce shepherd pie and spaghetti bolegnaise with, yes you guessed it, carrots in. Most things like this are made from scratch in ... ...is also annoying for my husband who loves carrots but rarely gets the chance to eat them due to it.
So there you have it, I am going to be very interested in reading other people’s passionate hatreds to find out if they are as passionate as mine, LOL. ...
cherryfalls 07.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Carrots
Advantages: Very healthy and high in Vit A, Tasty Disadvantages: Pretty difficult to grow
...are technically incorrect. Carrots were formerly in colours of red, black, yellow, white and more commonly purple. It was only in the Middle Ages that the Dutch developed the orange carrot that we now know. They also contain only a small amount of Vitamin C equivalent to only about 10% of recommended daily allowance. The main vitamin in the carrot is Vitamin A.
Carrots are ideal for those intending to lose weight and also those who are health conscious. ... ...of Vitamin A found in carrots do help the eyes. However the area of the eye that gains most from Vitamin A is the retina. This subsequently helps your night vision but not so drastically that you could see like a cat in the dark.
In the olden days the theory was that carrots could quite literally make you see in the dark. One of the stories associated with this was that during the Second World War, the British Royal Air Force bragged that the British ...
vinodgm 16.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Carrots
Advantages: Delicious Roasted Disadvantages: Take A Long Time To Grow
When I was very young my Dad used to occasionally grow Parsnips on his Vegetable patch but they were never very popular with myself or my Brother on the dinner plate which is hard to believe now since as an adult I would say that I rate them amongst my very favourite Vegetables.
As I grew a little bit older, around 6 or 7 years old my Mother had an another attempt at trying to introduce them to us and called them "White Carrots" and we had White Carrots with our Sunday Dinner until I was about 12 and discovered the truth about what I was eating.
I have written a few Vegetable reviews for Ciao (Potatoes, Tomatoes, Carrots and Spinach) so this is the 5th in my series and as always I would like to begin by telling you a little bit about their background.
The History
Parsnips are native to Europe and Western Asia and until ...
micksheff 23.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
Advantages: It has many uses this plant & has been used for many years in different ways Disadvantages: none
Having an allotment means hard heavy work and one of the best uses I have found for lavender is against carrot fly. We have a large allotment and every year we lose lots carrots to the fly, it is a real pest. I have found that picking the flower stalks of lavender and crumbling them over the ground after pulling up carrots stops the scent of the carrots escaping and the fly does not get into them. I have done this for 2 years very successfully and really look forward to good veggies now. Further uses of this plant is that it is supposed to help keep greenfly off the roses when planted nearby and it is a lovely sweet scented flower and gorgeous colour, well worth buying but it does go woody and needs to be replaced every couple of years. It does appear to seed itself though. ...
cinderhill 26.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lavender
Advantages: reallygood roasted Disadvantages: hubby does not like
Are you having roast parsnips with your Sunday roast beef or Christmas turkey?
I probably will be. I like parsnips (hubby doesn't so I rarely get them)
Parsnips are a root vegetable very much like a carrot but a creamy white colour (taste different of course.). The leaves that are on top of the ground look quite similar.
I have on occasions grown parsnips but our chalky soil is not ideal for parsnips or carrots.
I usually buy a parsnip from the supermarket at tesco they cost £1.98p a Kg if you buy them loose at Tesco at the mo. cost more in bags or prepared. Try not to choose the largest as often they are more fibrous and woody that the smaller ones. The centre core gets hard and woody as they get older.
Parsnips keep well for about a week or so in the fridge.
To prepare them for cooking both wash and scrub them well ...
mumsymary 17.12.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
