For some time now, most supermarkets have been stocking them. Sweet baby carrots. If you think these are baby carrots, read on! Cause they aren’t!
The babies that are not. These aren’t what you think they are!
Think about it, carrots are roots. Not tubers. They are the tap roots of Daucus carota subsp. sativus, and tap roots are supposed to go deep into soil for water and nutrients. Why would tap roots look like perfect little cylinders?
The carrots in the picture below, my friends, are real baby carrots. I got them from Culina, and they cost well…. a bit more that the other “babies”.
The real McCoy. These are the real baby carrots
These things look real – they have top leaves attached and even some soil sticking to them, so you know they are the real deal. These carrots were harvested relatively young, and are the real baby (or a least young) carrots. And, they look like… roots.
Here, you see a real baby carrot (left), and on the right, a …… manufactured “baby” carrot.
On left : a real babe. On right : manufactured!
So, the question is, what is that thing on the right. Well – it’s a carrot no doubt, and quite delicious and good for you too. It’s just a regular carrot that has been cut, shaped and trimmed, then sanitised and packed. That is why they are so convenient and ready to eat from the pack.
In some large processing plant in a land far away, adult carrots are each cut into three or four sections (of course four is better) and shaped to perfection. The next picture illustrates this. When you open a pack of baby carrots, there is some variation in their sizes. Line a few of them up, in order of decreasing size, and you see how they were formed from a larger carrot.
A large carrot is cut into sections and formed in the “babies” on left. A real baby carrot for comparison, on left.
Today, baby carrots are shaped from carrots specially grown for the purpose. These carrots are less bulky, less tapered, sweeter and more uniform in their colour from edge to core. You can see what I mean in the picture below, where I have cut across on normal carrot (left), a true baby (center) and a manufactured “baby”.
Cross section of a normal carrot (left), a true baby (center) and a manufactured baby (right)
The story of baby carrots is a fascinating one of enterprise, farming, and commerce. Their invention was in fact driven by the desire of consumers for perfect, straight carrots. Farmers thus found that a large part of their crop cannot be sold. Carrots that are too crooked, and knobby, have little value. Mind you, they are perfectly edible. Just that folks don’t want them.
At some point, an enterprising farmer, Mike Yurosek of Newhall, California, had a brainstorm. He figured that if he chopped the crooked carrots up, and ran them through a potato peeler, he might be able to sell the cut down carrots. I think he didn’t imagine how much people would love them. The value of the humble carrot multiplied many times, when they are chopped up and trimmed. How’s that for value! And the trimmings? Don’t worry about waste -there is carrot juice, puree, carrot soup, animal feed…..
I write this article not to slam Mr Yurosek, or the firms that sell these things. The “baby” carrots are mighty convenient, and healthy snack. Just that you should know what you are paying for! The evidence is all over the internet are is well documented. A good source is here.
And no, I don’t buy the fake babies. I like my carrots large.