Carrot by any other color is still a carrot - Janice Roosevelt, Keller Williams Real Estate, PA & DE

I admit it. Until this weekend, I had only eaten orange carrots. My world  has changed after enjoying yellow carrots from the Winterthur Farm Stand.

This sent this inquiring mind to the Carrot World Musem devoted to promoting the power of carrots, and yes, there you will find that  - in all their many, splendorous color, carrots are magnificent (except for that murky period in the Middle Ages) 

If you are like me, and are confused about the color of carrots, know that we are not alone.Even the most authoratative carrot author-experts are not reliable.

Carrots-- as I knew them --- orange --- are so  because they absorb certain wavelengths of light more efficiently than others. Beta-carotene is the main pigment carotenoids are one of the most important groups of natural pigments. They cause the yellow/orange  of many fruit and vegetables. Though beta-carotene is most abundant in carrots it is also found in pumpkins, apricots and nectarines.

Dark green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli are another good source. In these the orange color is masked by the green color of chlorophyll. This can be seen in leaves; in autumn, when the leaves die, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow/red colors of the more stable carotenoids can be seen.

A tale, probably apocryphal, has it that the orange carrot was bred in the Netherlands in 15002 to honor William of Orange. Though the development  of the orange carrot root does appear to date from around that period in the Netherlands, it is unlikely that honoring William of Orange had anything to do with it!

Some astute historian managed to install the myth that the work an unexpected mutation was developed especially to thank King William I as a tribute to independence from Spain. Dr T Fernie (Herbal Simples1875) reported - "The Dutch Government had no love for the House of Orange: and many a grave burgomaster went so far as to banish from his garden the Orange lily, and Marigold; also the sale of Oranges and Carrots was prohibited in the markets on account of their aristocratic colour."  jroosevelt@kw.com