Carrots

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Joe24

More serious cyclist than Bonj
Location
Nottingham
Where do carrot seeds come from?
I've been thinking about it, and when you eat a carrot, you never find any seeds. So where do the seeds come from, and why do we never see them?
Why were they made to be orange, and not stay at purple?

You may think its strange, but have you ever sliced a carrot, and found seeds? I havent.
 

domtyler

Über Member
A carrot is a root vegetable Joe, you will not find any seeds inside. They are Orange because of the beta carotene they contain, this is just how they are, they were not invented or designed by a human to be orange.
 

wafflycat

New Member
Carrot seeds come from the carrot plant. The bit we eat is not the bit that contains seeds as we eat the root of the plant rather than the fruit of the plant.

Orange coloured carrots first appeared in the Netherlands in the 17th century, IIRC, as a way of making it the same colour as the national colour. Or something like that!

The carrot is a bienniel plant, meaning it flowers only once every two years. If the carrot is not harvested and left in the ground, it will flower & produce seeds in the second year.
 

Tetedelacourse

New Member
Location
Rosyth
wafflycat said:
Carrot seeds come from the carrot plant. The bit we eat is not the bit that contains seeds as we eat the root of the plant rather than the fruit of the plant.

Orange coloured carrots first appeared in the Netherlands in the 17th century, IIRC, as a way of making it the same colour as the national colour. Or something like that!

The carrot is a bienniel plant, meaning it flowers only once every two years. If the carrot is not harvested and left in the ground, it will flower & produce seeds in the second year.

I didn't think you were that old Waffles.
 
OP
OP
J

Joe24

More serious cyclist than Bonj
Location
Nottingham
Then how do you get more carrots, and why can you buy carrot seeds?
I was told by a teacher at school that carrots used to be purple untill the Dutch modified them to be orange. Or am i just too gullable?



Took too long to post
 

rob_mcp

New Member
Why restrict yourself to carrots - parsnips, swede, beetroot, onion, leek, kohl rabi - just leave them to grow - eventually they flower - all that stuff with bees goes on - the flower becomes a seed pod - and there they are - seeds. The beauty of a good veg is that it doesn't run to seed (bolt) too early - a common problem with beetroot and calabrese - to give time to grow the edible bit before it gets on to flowering
 

Tetedelacourse

New Member
Location
Rosyth
domtyler said:
A carrot is a root vegetable Joe, you will not find any seeds inside. They are Orange because of the beta carotene they contain, this is just how they are, they were not invented or designed by a human to be orange.

What a load of pish.

They are orange so that we don't confuse them with parsnips.:blush:
 
OP
OP
J

Joe24

More serious cyclist than Bonj
Location
Nottingham
wafflycat said:
Carrot seeds come from the carrot plant. The bit we eat is not the bit that contains seeds as we eat the root of the plant rather than the fruit of the plant.

Orange coloured carrots first appeared in the Netherlands in the 17th century, IIRC, as a way of making it the same colour as the national colour. Or something like that!

The carrot is a bienniel plant, meaning it flowers only once every two years. If the carrot is not harvested and left in the ground, it will flower & produce seeds in the second year.

Thanks, that makes sence.
 

PatrickPending

Legendary Member
Location
Leicester
Hi at great risk of being called cyclechat's carrot correspondant (although I m a vegetarian) I'll answer this ....

carrots do have flowers but they're generally pulled up before they flower, and as for their orange colour we can apparently thank the dutch for this (original carrots being purple) - they bred them to be orange in the 1500s to match the colour or the house of orange (dutch royal family)

Bet you wish you never asked
 

domtyler

Über Member
PatrickPending said:
Hi at great risk of being called cyclechat's carrot correspondant (although I m a vegetarian) I'll answer this ....

carrots do have flowers but they're generally pulled up before they flower, and as for their orange colour we can apparently thank the dutch for this (original carrots being purple) - they bred them to be orange in the 1500s to match the colour or the house of orange (dutch rtoyal family)

Bet you wish you never asked

Do you type with one finger? :blush:
 
Top Bottom