Purple carrots

Purple carrots! were on my plate with the entree I ordered at a family Christmas lunch. But I had to ask after I had eaten most of it to know that. I thought maybe it was a turnip covered over with the zingy sauce or maybe some new Asian vegetable. At home I pulled out my Jo Robinson text (see “Wild” 1/28/20) to learn more.

The orange carrots we are used to seeing were modified in Europe hundreds of years ago. They came from the purple carrots of Asia folks ate a 1000 years ago. They were more nutritious than the orange ones. Jo’s advice is, “Don’t think of them as a designer food”. They are a return to our nutritional heritage.

I’m on the look-out for them here in Williamsburg. I haven’t seen them yet.