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Quick! Imagine a carrot.
What colour is it?
I’m going to guess you all picked the colour orange.
One of the weirdest and most interesting things I’ve learned from a book is that carrots weren’t originally orange. Up until the late seventeenth century, they were nearly always purple. You might see a rare one that was white or yellow, but those colours weren’t encouraged by carrot farms.
How did that change? Some Dutch growers began cross-breeding different types of carrots in the late 1600s. It’s thought that they probably crossed purple carrots with white ones to eventually create the orange carrots we all know.
They also selectively bred this crop to make carrots bigger, juicer, and sweeter than the ones that people ate in previous generations.
I wasn’t able to find the book that mentioned this, but this article has more information for anyone who is interested.
Okay, that’s pretty cool!!! I love carrots bu thad no idea…
🙂
Oh how interesting! I didn’t know that either.
I know, right?
Wow, that’s an interesting fact. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-weirdest-thing-ive-learned-reading.html
Thank you.
Interesting, especially since I see white and purple carrots in the stores all the time now.
My post
I see them occasionally. It’s cool that your stores have them more often than that.
I learned about carrots and the same basic thing about bananas from a cooking show, but still. We learned stuff. And it’s cool stuff. I kinda want to try a purple carrot. 🙂 Great post.
Ooh, how have bananas changed?
And, yeah, I want to try purple carrots, too. Someday!
How fascinating, Lydia! I did not know this. I always enjoy learning something new.
Here’s mine:https://www.marymorganauthor.com/post/long-and-short-reviews-weekly-blog-challenge-03-18-20
Thank you.
I mean, I’ve seen purple and white carrots in the grocery (usually as part of a specialty bundle with all three colors) but I didn’t know that purple was the original color. That’s neat! And now you have me wondering about purple potatoes.
I know nothing about the history of potatoes. Maybe they were purple in the beginning as well.
Food is weird. Food is deeply, deeply weird. I didn’t know that about carrots, but I know that the history of food is weird.
Yes, it sure is. What other food facts do you know?
It’s interesting. My parrot prefers different colored carrots. LOL That’s how I learned about the different colors of carrots. Thanks for sharing! Here’s mine. https://www.tenastetler.com/lsrs-wednesdays-blog-challenge-3-18-2020-the-weirdest-thing-i-learned-reading-fiction/
That’s so cool! What colours does your parrot like most?
The more you know! I had no idea carrots weren’t always orange ♡
🙂
Have to agree that is pretty cool and not something I knew. Thanks for the piece of trivia and info. You’d think with years in Ag in school I’d have learned that with some of the other things I have learned.
You’re welcome!
Trader Joes was the first place I found multi-colored carrots. Now all grocery stores seem to have them. I like the baby ones to snack on. They made my ST. Patty’s day dinner more colorful yesterday!
http://www.fionamcgier.com
Oh, cool!
A lot of fascinating history here, especially the one on fairy tales!
Thanks. 🙂
Wow! I had no idea! Neat!
Thanks.
I knew from somewhere that they were originally purple but did not know of the other colors – or how they became orange. Thanks! 🙂
You’re welcome. 🙂
Isn’t is wonderful to discover cool little things like that from reading? Love it! And that’s a beauty about the carrots.
Yes, it sure is. Glad you liked it.
I had heard that, but it was probably on Masterchef. Never tried a purple carrot though.
Cool. Do you think you’d want to try a purple carrot?
I have seen, and eaten, the other colored carrots, when my mom is feeling fancy, but I had no idea that orange was not the prominent color. That’s an interesting little fun fact you taught me today
Thanks a lot. 🙂
Mind blown. Although thinking about it I think I have seen purple carrots before? They don’t look very appetizing though. (Also tagged you in a liebster award if you fancy it!)
Thank you for the tag! How cool.
I’m curious about purple carrots, but it would be a little odd to eat them for sure.