The Complete Handbook of Carrots

Chapter 1: Understanding Carrots

Carrots are a root vegetable, but that simple fact obscures a complex biological object with defined physical properties that directly affect its commercial value and culinary behavior. A carrot is the taproot of the plant Daucus carota subsp. sativus. It is a biennial plant; in its first year, it stores energy in the root. In the second year, if left in the ground, it uses that energy to produce a flower stalk and seeds. The root we eat is not a storage organ in the same way a potato is, but a refined structure designed to anchor the plant and uptake water and nutrients. The commercial carrot we buy is a highly bred version of a wild plant that originated in Central Asia.

Understanding the biology is the starting point for evaluating why one carrot is distinctly different from another. The edible portion of the carrot has several distinct regions. The outer layer is the periderm, which is the skin. A thin layer of phloem lies just inside the skin and contains most of the carrot's sugars and carotenoids, the compounds that provide the orange, yellow, or red color. The inner core, or xylem, is the woody central part. The relative size and texture of this xylem core determines a great deal about the carrot's eating quality. In a high-quality carrot, the xylem should be a small proportion of the total diameter, which results in a denser, sweeter, and less fibrous root. If you have