Check out these beauties that I recently got in my produce bin!the carrot hasn't always been the vitamin A powerhouse that it is today. Over two decades ago, scientists in the ARS Vegetable Crops Research Unit at Madison, Wisconsin, began a quest to breed carrots packed with beta-carotene—an orange pigment used by the body to create vitamin A. Thanks largely to this ARS work, today's carrots provide consumers with 75 percent more beta-carotene than those available 25 years ago.The researchers, led by plant geneticist Philipp Simon, haven't limited themselves to the color orange. They've selectively bred a rainbow of carrots—purple, red, yellow, even white. Scientists are learning that these plant pigments perform a range of protective duties in the human body—which is not surprising, says Simon, since many of the pigments serve to shield plant cells during photosynthesis.Red carrots derive their color mainly from lycopene, a type of carotene believed to guard against heart disease and some cancers. Yellow carrots accumulate xanthophylls, pigments similar to beta-carotene that support good eye health. Purple carrots possess an entirely different class of pigments—anthocyanins—which act as powerful antioxidants.
While colored carrots are unusual, they're not exactly new. "Purple and yellow carrots were eaten more than 1,000 years ago in Afghanistan and 700 years ago in western Europe," says Simon. "But the carrot-breeding process has gone on intensively for just 50 years."
Aren't they pretty?
I simply sliced these on an angle and put them in a large saute pan with a little coconut oil, salt, and a 1/4 cup of water. I brought the temp up so that the water boiled and cooked uncovered until the water boiled off. I was afraid the color would bleed out (this has happened before with purple potatoes I think), but it didn't!
To finish, I added just a touch of brown sugar and a pinch more salt to taste. Enjoy!
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