What the hell is that?


New (old) foods take some getting used to....


I'm going to let you guess what is in this picture. I'll give you a hint: other than being steamed, it is a completely unmodified cross-section of something. Feel free to put your guesses in the comments section. For those of you who are dying to know, the answer is in inviso-text below. (This probably won't work if you're using an RSS reader, but hey....I'm not a miracle worker.) Highlight to see the answer ...

Back in the day, in the time before time, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, when God was a child, even before I was born, carrots were purple.

Yes. Purple.

Apparently it was the Dutch (ie. the House of Orange) who cleverly manipulated the genetics of the carrot in order to produce its present color. (Talk about GM foods!) I've also heard a story that British aviators during WWII actually ate so many carrots to improve their night vision that their skin took on a distinctly orange hue.

Now, even in the hinterlands of Chelsea, Michigan, it is possible, once again, to get carrots in their original colors. In addition to the cool, alien-like color, the taste is really quite different. The huge amount of beta carotene that is packed into orange carrots has a distinct taste. You'll know exactly what that taste is when you have a purple carrot because that's the taste that is missing. These are much sweeter and have less of that "woody" taste (which I think is probably the beta carotene.)

Also, just as a side note, I discovered a use for carrot greens this week. My husband buys me flowers each week (aaawwww) and this week, the bouquet was lacking enough greens. So I used carrot greens to fill in. Looks great. Am I gay, or what?

Posted: Fri - February 3, 2006 at 02:06 PM        

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