C is for Carrots!

Who doesn’t love to snap into a carrot? The crunchy texture and sweet taste of carrots is popular among both adults and children. They are perfect on their own or great to dip in raw almond butter or hummus! Carrots benefits are legendary. Bet your mother told you that eating carrots would keep your eyesight bright.

While we usually associate carrots with the color orange, in fact, carrots grow in a host of other colors including white, yellow, red, or purple, the latter being the color of the original variety. The carrot is a plant with a thick, fleshy, deeply colored root, which grows underground, and feathery green leaves that emerge above ground. It is known scientifically as Daucus carota. As such, carrots are related to parsnips, fennel caraway, cumin and dill. There are over 100 different varieties that vary in size and color. Carrots can be as small as two inches or as long as three feet, ranging in diameter from one-half of an inch to over two inches. Carrot roots have a crunchy texture and a sweet and minty aromatic taste, while the greens are fresh tasting and slightly bitter.

Health Benefits

• 1 cup of raw carrots has 683% of your daily value for Vitamin A! Wow! In addition, they are a very good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fiber and potassium. All of that and only 52 calories!
• Beta-carotene helps to protect vision, especially night vision. After beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the liver, it travels to the retina where it is transformed into rhodopsin, a purple pigment that is necessary for night-vision.
• Carrots are by far one of the richest source of carotenoids. High carotenoid intake has been linked with a 20% decrease in postmenopausal breast cancer and an up to 50% decrease in the incidence of cancers of the bladder, cervix, prostate, colon, larynx, and esophagus.
• Intake of foods such as carrots that are rich in carotenoids may be beneficial to blood sugar regulation. Research has suggested that physiological levels, as well as dietary intake, of carotenoids may be inversely associated with insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels.

How to Select and Store

Carrot roots should be firm, smooth, relatively straight and bright in color. The deeper the orange-color, the more beta-carotene is present in the carrot. Avoid carrots that are excessively cracked or forked as well as those that are limp or rubbery. In addition, if the carrots do not have their tops attached, look at the stem end and ensure that it is not darkly colored as this is also a sign of age. If the green tops are attached, they should be brightly colored, feathery and not wilted. Since the sugars are concentrated in the carrots’ core, generally those with larger diameters will have a larger core and therefore be sweeter.

Carrots are hardy vegetables that will keep longer than many others if stored properly. The trick to preserving the freshness of carrot roots is to minimize the amount of moisture they lose. To do this, make sure to store them in the coolest part of the refrigerator in a plastic bag or wrapped in a paper towel, which will reduce the amount of condensation that is able to form. They should be able to keep fresh for about two weeks. Carrots should also be stored away from apples, pears, potatoes and other fruits and vegetables that produce ethylene gas since it will cause them to become bitter.

If you purchase carrot roots with attached green tops, the tops should be cut off before storing in the refrigerator since they will cause the carrots to wilt prematurely as they pull moisture from the roots. While the tops can be stored in the refrigerator, kept moist by being wrapped in a damp paper, they should really be used soon after purchase since they are fragile and will quickly begin to wilt.

Recipes to Enjoy

We feature carrots in some of our yummy raw recipes! Check them out:

• Cabbage Carrot Slaw
• Kale, Carrot & Flax Fruit Smoothie
• Raw Collard Wraps
• Red Cabbage Raw Slaw
• Vincent’s Kale Salad

Resource

World’s Healthiest Foods: Carrots

By admin Tags: carotenoids, carrots, dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin a, vitamin c, vitamin k
Posted in Raw Foods | 1 Comment »

One Response to “C is for Carrots!”

1. Bill says:

   January 15, 2010 at 6:57 am

   Focus On What’s Important

   What we feed our bodies feeds our eyes. Many of the vitamins and minerals in our bodies are found in much higher concentrations in our eyes, so a diet lacking in these vitamins and minerals can lead to vision problems as we grow older.

   [Reply]