Carrots

Just found this bit of info for all you carrot lovers... And yes, apparently the Dutch DID create the orange carrot... Only Oranje! ;0)

According to Vavilov (Botanical-Geographic Principles of Selection, Vavilov, 1935, translation by Artschwager, 1946) the basic center of origin of Asiatic varieties was in middle Asia including India, Afghanistan and eastern Russia. Another center of origin, Vavilov says, was the Near East. From these areas, the carrot was introduced into Europe, North and South America and China. The diversity of the cultivated carrots in Afghanistan was much beyond anything known in Europe. The relationships of the various cultivated Asiatic forms to the European ones and to the widely distributed weed carrot or Queen Anne's Lace have not been worked out. (Plants, Man and Life, Edgar Anderson, 1952 )

Studies in the history of horticulture have not revealed any indication that in the ancient civilizations of Asia Minor, Egypt and Greece, the carrot had any importance as a food crop. It was certainly used as a medicinal herb, at least in Greece, but for this purpose improvement of the edibility of the root of the wild plants was unnecessary. In the view of Dr. Banga of Holland it is probable that at the time of the Romans the sweet, edible carrot was still unknown as a food crop. Some experts differ with this view, but Dr. Banga's evidence is impressive. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

Carrot seeds dating from about 2000-3000 B.C. were found in Zurich and also small quantities were found in the ancient lake dwelling area near Zug, Switzerland, dating from the late bronze period. Some seeds have been found at sites of ancient Celtic and Roman settlements in Switzerland. However, Dr. Banga feels the seeds were probably used for medicinal purposes, not cultivation, since there is no evidence that the Romans or Europeans at the time of Charlemagne (800 A.D.) knew about our kind of cultivated carrots. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

The first clear description of carrots related to present cultivated types comes from the Arab countries after the spread of Mohammedanism. Ibn-Al-Awam wrote in Spain in the 12th century, citing still older work, and told of two kinds of carrots, one "red," juicy and tasty; and one green blending into yellow but coarser than red. He says that in the climate of Babylonia they were sown between Aug.26 and Oct. 5 and grown during winter. They were eaten with vinegar, salt, oil and certain vegetables or cereals. It's believed the carrots called "red" were actually purple. Orange red carrots do not appear until a much later date. In Egypt today they still grow a variety with "small purple roots which are sweet and tender." The purple carrot was probably grown in Spain near Seville in the 12th century. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

In the Netherlands, the "red" carrot was mentioned in the 15th century, and it is probable it had been introduced from France which in turn had received it from Spain. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

Documents prove that the carrot was known in Italy in the 13th century, in France, Germany and the Netherlands in the 14th, and in England in the 15th. More detailed reports are found in some herbals and botanical works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. In the painting Christ and the Adulterers by Pieter Aertsen made at Amsterdam in 1559, there is a market scene in the foreground in which purple and yellow carrots are shown. Other paintings also show carrots of such colors. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

The yellow carrots gradually superseded the purple and in the 17th century little mention is made of the purple kind. A white carrot was grown somewhat later in the Netherlands, France, and to a small extent in England. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

The first written evidence of orange-yellow or red-orange carrots is from the 18th century. Du Vivie in 1721 in the Netherlands wrote of reddish-yellow carrots; and by 1763 four types of orange colored carrots had been developed in that country. However, Dutch paintings of the 17th century show orange colored carrots.(Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

In Germany the first sign of the existence of a red-orange carrot is a description by Hessen in 1740 of the variety Brunsvic. This was described as long and of a red-yellow color, but it was dry, hard, coarse and more suited for fattening pigs than pleasing humans. England had orange-colored carrots by 1768 and probably earlier. (Origin of the European Cultivated Carrot and the Development of the Original European Carrot Material, Banga, publication M-105, Institute of Horticultural Plant Breeding, Wageningen, Holland, June. 1957.)

In the New World, carrots were mentioned by Hawkins at Margarita Island in 1565; in Brazil in 1647; in Virginia in 1609 and in Massachusetts in 1629. In 1770, carrots were among the Indian foods destroyed by General Sullivan in his punitive raids near Geneva, N.Y. (Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants, Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, edited by Hedrick, 1919.) In 1855, surveyors for the Pacific Railroad reported the Flathead Indians in Oregon were so fond of carrots they would steal them from the fields, although they were strictly honest as to other articles.

Above is Excerpted from Murray, Judy. 1966July. Carrots. Fruit and Vegetable Facts and Pointers United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, 777 14th St., N.W. Washington, D.C.