Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Who Knew Carrots Could Be So Interesting?





I live in New York. I know nothing about horticulture or farming. So maybe you guys are already aware of the facts I plan to put forth in this post. But I gotta say, I just had my mind blown. By carrots.

Are you aware that carrots were purple before the 17th century? Yeah. Purple. Apparently the Dutch are responsible for their current color. (Did they breed orange carrots because they were tastier? Or to celebrate the powerful House of Orange? Who knows? The Dutch work in mysterious ways.)

Among the other things I recently learned about carrots. (All taken from this enlightening post.)

1. Carrot seeds are they key ingredient in an ancient concoction proven to counteract the effects of poison.

2. The Romans believed carrots were aphrodisiacs. Everyone in ancient Rome grew them.

3. That whole "carrots improve your eyesight" thing? It's an urban legend cooked up by the British government.

19 comments:

The Dimensionist said...

What!? Carrots DON'T HELP ME!?
NOOOOO!!!

The Golden Eagle said...

I didn't know they were purple before! Too bad. I think they would have been cooler purple (although orange is nice and bright).

Rebecca said...

YES! Now my mom can't make me eat carrots to improve my vision.I don't like them.MUHAHAHA!I will eat them if I'm poisoned...

Kinga said...

Wait... what are aphrodisiacs? Interesting facts, though.

Hana said...

Thank god they don't help my eyesight! I don't like them and was making myself eat them to make my glasses situation better... ;D
I am now carrot-free!

Anonymous said...

okay, i knew the purple/dutch people thing and fact #3, but i didnt know the rest. and i dont know much about living in a huuuuge city, im like the opposite of you-the small town where i live is known for salad and john steinbeck. (also, vanessa hudgens was born here, but i dont think many people know that. also: nearby, the bay supposedly has a sea monster living in the trench. how awesome is that?!!?!?).

Anonymous said...

wait, carrots improve eyesight?! what? I really thought that was true...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, The Brits cooked that one up during WW2 to trick the Germans. They fed the press lots of phony stories about feeding their pilots carrots which made them see at night, to explain their new RADAR. The Germans stuffed their pilots faces with veggies but it never worked.

Kitty said...

It's just like how peas were mostly yellow before until they bred them into green ones!! XD

Anonymous said...

Hey! Kirsten Miller?
I know this is non-carrot related, but I heard you were writing a book called a Season in the Underworld on goodreads. What's it about :3 ?

Hannah said...

But Carrots have given me a lot better night-sight! I promise!
When I was young I ate ate one time so much carrots my skin turned orange, especially between the leads.

EQ said...

Kirsten? What would you do if you found one of your classmates smoking?

Kirsten Miller said...

Anonymous @9:26PM: That's so weird! That was a temporary title for the sequel to The Eternal Ones. But it won't be the final title.

EQ: Yikes. How old is this kid?

EQ said...

She's a freshman at my school. I told my mom but she says we don't know the kid and she isn't sure what to do.

Kirsten Miller said...

EQ: Honestly, I feel bad for her. Not only is she harming her body, she's setting herself up for an extremely expensive habit.

I'm not sure what to tell you. If she were a friend, I would recommend having a talk with her. But it sounds like you don't know her, so that probably wouldn't work.

You could get older people involved. (Parents or teachers.) But I'm afraid that might not be very effective. And you could find yourself with an enemy.

Is there a chance you can get to know the girl?

EQ said...

No, the class we were in is over. Also she doesn't really like me. On the upside, that means it probably won't be a problem for me if she hates me, but it would still be kind of mean. What I really hate is that here it's not illegal to smoke underage, just to buy.

Sunny said...

Ya, carrots r awesome! But purple carrots... ick.

Look at my Wizards of Waverly Place blog at luvwowp.blogspot.com, y'all!

Ya I speak British too.

anonymous science-fiction writer24495 said...

Interesting, now I know never to trust a boy who wants to buy me carrots. Plus I don't have to start eating healthy for my vision!

Anonymous said...

Wow, and A&M thought they were being unique making maroon carrots.