Carrot

A carrot is a common root vegetable that has been domesticated for thousands of years. It belongs to the Apiaceae family of plants, which includes parsley, celery, parsnips, and many other vegetables. Carrots come in a variety of colors, but most modern carrots are usually orange. These vegetables can be enjoyed raw or cooked in both sweet and savory dishes. Carrots have a variety of health benefits. Half a cup of carrots contains twenty-five calories, two grams of fiber, and one gram of protein. Additionally, carrots are fat free. Carrots are also a great source of beta-carotene, a chemical that the body converts into vitamin A, which is an important nutrient that helps with vision. In fact, just one carrot provides more than 200 percent of the daily recommended value of vitamin A. The fiber in carrots has also been shown to help lower cholesterol. According to Reader's Digest, eating a diet that includes carrots has been shown to help strengthen bones and could reduce the risk of diabetes and certain cancers.

Brief History

Wild carrots, commonly referred to as Queen Anne's Lace, were used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, and seeds from the plant date back more than ten thousand years. Although the wild carrot is similar to the domestic carrot in some ways, the modern carrot did not develop from this bitter, pale plant. Researchers believe that the first edible carrots were cultivated around Afghanistan about five thousand years ago. These carrots were probably purple in color and bared little resemblance to the carrots purchased in grocery stores today.

Carrots were mentioned in several ancient legends and historical texts. According to Rebecca Rupp, author of the book How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True) Stories of Common Vegetables, legend claims that the Greek soldiers stashed inside a hollow wooden horse snacked on carrots as they waited to invade Troy during the Trojan War. Supposedly, the vegetable was thought to bind the bowels.

The first mention of carrots in a historical text was by Diphilus of Siphnos, a Greek physician, who wrote about the vegetable in the third century B.C.E. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder also wrote about carrots in the first century C.E., noting the similarities between carrots and parsnips. Galen, another Greek physician, was the first to use two separate words (daucus and carota) to distinguish between the parsnip and the carrot in his work during the second century C.E. By the eighth century, Frankish king Charlemagne was recommending that carrots be included in his kingdom's gardens.

Carrots slowly made their way across Europe over the centuries, appearing in Spain around the twelfth century, and France and England by the fourteenth century. Along with parsnips, carrots were a staple vegetable during the Middle Ages, particularly because they were easy to grow and could be stored for long periods without spoiling. During these years, most carrots still did not resemble the orange vegetables people are familiar with in the twenty-first century. Purple carrots were reported in France around the 1300s, and the yellow version was noted in England and Germany in the 1500s. Over time, the yellow carrot became more popular than the purple carrot, which often turned an unappealing shade of brown when cooked.

Historians suspect that the orange shade with which most people associate carrots was cultivated by the Dutch. The first mention of the so-called long orange Dutch carrot was in 1721. This is thought to be the ancestor of the modern carrots people enjoy today. Legend has it that the Dutch developed the orange shade of carrots in honor of William of Orange, who fought for Dutch independence. However, experts have found no hard evidence to corroborate this story.

Carrots and Eyesight

Carrots have long been associated with several health benefits, the most famous of which is their connection to good eyesight. Scientists know that the vitamin A in carrots is beneficial for eye health. Still, this idea has been a bit exaggerated over the years. Some people have even claimed that eating carrots allows people to see better in the dark by improving their night vision. While carrots provide nutrients that are essential for eye health, they do not have the power to help people see at night.

However, like many vegetable tales, there is an interesting story behind this myth. During World War II, Great Britain was being attacked by the German air force, which would usually strike at night. To try to make it more difficult for the enemy to attack, the British government issued blackouts in cities across the country. Even with these blackouts, the members of the British Royal Air Force were still able to keep the Germans at bay and hit their targets. This was because they had developed a new type of radar technology in their planes that helped pilots pinpoint their enemies. This technology allowed pilots such as John Cunningham to take down enemy aircraft even in the dark of night. Of course, the British did not want the Germans to learn about their new radar system.

To keep the truth from their opponents, British leaders came up with another reason for their pilots' success at night—they were feeding the pilots a diet rich in carrots. The carrot cover-up did not end there, however. There were even propaganda posters displayed for the British public that told them to eat their carrots so they could see during the blackouts. The government also created a cartoon character called Dr. Carrot, which was used to encourage people to consume more fresh vegetables and save on shipped goods. During the war, carrots were also used in marmalade, pudding, and cake when sugar became difficult to obtain.

Whether the Germans believed the British government's story about pilots improving their eyesight by eating excessive amounts of carrots is still up to debate. Nevertheless, the idea that carrots could not only help people see but also help them see in the dark persisted.

While eating tons of carrots does not help people see at night, excessive consumption can lead to carotenemia. This condition is characterized by a yellowing of the skin caused by high levels of beta-carotene in the blood. This may sound a bit frightening, but the condition is harmless and is often reversed once the patient reduces his or her intake of beta-carotene-rich vegetables.

Bibliography

"Carrot." BBC, Good Food, www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/carrot. Accessed 17 Jan. 2023.

Khimm, Suzy. "Are Carrots Orange for Political Reasons?" Washington Post, 10 Sept. 2011, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/carrots-are-orange-for-an-entirely-political-reason/2011/09/09/gIQAfayiFK‗blog.html. Accessed 17 Jan. 2023.

Laliberte, Marissa. "6 Surprising Health Benefits to Eating Your Carrots." Reader's Digest, 23 Nov. 2020, www.rd.com/health/wellness/benefits-of-carrots/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2023.

Maron, Dina Fine. "Fact or Fiction?: Carrots Improve Your Vision." Scientific American, 23 June 2014, www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-carrots-improve-your-vision/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Rupp, Rebecca. How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True) Stories of Common Vegetables. Storey Publishing, 2011, pp. 83–97.

Smith, K. Annabelle. "A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark." Smithsonian, 13 Aug. 2013, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-wwii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-that-carrots-help-you-see-in-the-dark-28812484/?no-ist. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Stolarczyk, John, and Jules Janick. "Carrot: History and Iconography." Chronica Horticulturae, vol. 51, no. 2, 2011, hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/ch5102-carrot.pdf. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Thompson, Chloe. "5 Fun Facts about Carrots." WebMD, www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/5-healthy-facts-about-carrots. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.