While most carrots you find in supermarkets are orange, wild and early cultivated carrots come in various colors. Many people believe carrots are orange due to selective breeding in the Netherlands asXXXXX. However, this is false. Records show that carrots were either yellow or purple until the 1500s. Then, orange carrots appeared in 16th century Italian and Spanish artworks. In short, the orange carrot occurred naturally.
Carrot colors are determined by compounds called carotenoids, which are antioxidants that carry different pigments and have numerous effects on our bodies. For example, certain carotenoids (lutein and zeaxanthin) are full of oxygen, promote ocular health, and reduce the risk of heart disease. Lycopene promotes heart health and reduces the risk of certain cancers.
Differently colored carrots also have different flavors. Depending on the color, carrots can taste sweet, peppery, flowery, or even bitter. Naturally occurring sugars combine with terpenoids (flavor compounds) to create these different flavors.
Orange carrots are the most common carrots. They have a high beta-carotene level and a flavor we’ve come to know and expect. They also come in many different shapes and sizes, adapt to many soils, and can sometimes mature quickly.
White carrots originally came from Iran and Afghanistan. While not as sweet or flavorful as many other carrots, they are packed with fiber and are very crunchy. Unfortunately, they do not have many other nutritional benefits.
Yellow carrots are juicy, crunchy, and fragrant. They contain high levels of lutein, which is related to beta-carotene and vitamin A and found in different brassicas, plus kiwis, grapes, orange fruits, and squashes. When cooked with fat, lutein has a better chance of being absorbed into the body.
Red carrots are high in lycopene, rich in flavor, and taste slightly sweeter than orange carrots. Purple carrots are extremely sweet and have an earthy flavor similar to parsnips. They also lose their pigment when cooked and will bleed into other ingredients. These types of carrots are rich in anthocyanins, an antioxidant found in most purple, black, and blue fruits or vegetables. They also have red, white, or orange cores, which are rich in anthocyanin, lycopene, and alpha-carotene.
You can also find black carrots. Interestingly, these carrots are not actually black, just very dark purple. They are packed with even more anthocyanins than the lighter purple varieties, offering many antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-obesity benefits, as well as preventing numerous cardiovascular diseases. These types of carrots are also spicy and earthy.
Various factors influence the color of a carrot. For example, temperatures higher than 70 degrees and lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit will reduce carrot coloration. Carrots grown in the spring and summer will be more vibrant than those in the autumn and winter. In addition, carrots grown in soils rich in organic matter or sandy soils will be a more vibrant color than those grown in less-ideal soil conditions. Interestingly, excessive water decreases the carrot’s color, while the number of daylight hours will reduce color as well (which is why the winter carrots are less vibrant).