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Carrots

But what happens if you eat yuppie purple carrots?..

.. and what happens if you then edit an existing thread to create a new one without telling anyone making it look like Ogdred has purposely started a thread called Carrots?..
 
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If you eat lots of carrots you turn orange, this is a true fact.
Helps you see in the dark, too.

Doesn't really, in fact, but the reason why not fascinates me.
You probably all already know, but this was how British government explained the otherwise suspiciously effective night-fighter interceptions during the Battle of Britain. It was a cover story to conceal developments in radar technology. Whether or not it deceived the Germans, I don't know, but it certainly passed into folk wisdom as a "true fact"
- I remember being told this alleged benefit as a schoolboy in the 70s, and maybe even 80s.
 
Helps you see in the dark, too.

Doesn't really, in fact, but the reason why not fascinates me.
They do contain lots of Vit A which s good for the eyes. Coincidentally I read an article today where the myth they help you see in the dark originated:
It’s thought that orange carrots became pre-eminent to show support for William of Orange in the 17th century, but it was fortuitous, because these carrots are unusually rich in vitamin A, which is good for the eyes.

However, it’s a myth that eating lots of carrots makes you see better in the dark. This factoid was disseminated during World War II by the British, purely to fool the Germans. It seems to have worked.
 

Some are orange inside:

carrots.jpg


carrot blackface?

These are purple throughout:

purpchantenaysm.jpg


Who knew carrots could be so complicated?

 
Those interesting-coloured carrots can be had from Sainsbury's. They seem to keep a bit better than the wimpish modern varieties.

I gather that ingestion of carroty-laced compounds can indeed turn folk yellow.

I suspect carotene was also the basis of a lotion which caused a startling effect on a student friend of mine, way back. Always pale-skinned, he had annointed himself with this product, which promised a sun-free tan. He then partook of Magic Mushrooms, or some other substance and managed to fall asleep in a field. The sun came up and turned him a livid orange colour for the rest of the term! :)
 
That looks like some kind of mutant!
I have seen carrots of almost that size, many years ago. A local horticultural association used to have shows - and people would enter some fine examples of huge veg. They had to be perfectly formed to get an award. That one in the pic wouldn't win an award for its looks, but it would win one for size and weight.
 
That looks like some kind of mutant!
I have seen carrots of almost that size, many years ago. A local horticultural association used to have shows - and people would enter some fine examples of huge veg. They had to be perfectly formed to get an award. That one in the pic wouldn't win an award for its looks, but it would win one for size and weight.
Carrot beauty contests? .. that's just sick.

 
I've purple potatoes once, they look very different but the taste and texture are more or less the same.


Went to Tesco today and the potato section was completely empty - apart from bags of the purple variety. My guess is that the average Tesco customer has never seen them before and would rather starve than try an 'exotic vegetable'.
 
The original wild carrot has a very small stringy whitish root, very tough but does taste a bit of carrots. Found like many of our basic veg (kale, beet, parsnip) near the coast, you have to pull a lot to get enough to eat and quite frankly it's not worth it. Whoever decided that "Hmmm, with a few generations of selective breeding I could turn that into something worthwhile to eat", had too much time on his (or her) hands. There is a story (I've tried to look for origin) that a Russian botanist tried this over many generations from wild stock but with no success, wether true or not I don't know.
 
The original wild carrot has a very small stringy whitish root, very tough but does taste a bit of carrots. Found like many of our basic veg (kale, beet, parsnip) near the coast, you have to pull a lot to get enough to eat and quite frankly it's not worth it. Whoever decided that "Hmmm, with a few generations of selective breeding I could turn that into something worthwhile to eat", had too much time on his (or her) hands. There is a story (I've tried to look for origin) that a Russian botanist tried this over many generations from wild stock but with no success, wether true or not I don't know.
Hopefully someone will try the same thing with Samphire .. it grows in abundance in our beach swampland areas but it's not very exciting to eat yet unless you add vinegar , I'm not going to lie. It's free and very healthy though.
 
Hopefully someone will try the same thing with Samphire .. it grows in abundance in our beach swampland areas but it's not very exciting to eat yet unless you add vinegar , I'm not going to lie. It's free and very healthy though.

Samphire is good as a garnish in small amounts with the right sort of dish & has a nice slightly crunchy texture - a little goes a long way. Nice to have a source on your doorstep. Do you have dulse seaweed on your beaches I wonder? Good stuff if you can find it.
 
Samphire is good as a garnish in small amounts with the right sort of dish & has a nice slightly crunchy texture - a little goes a long way. Nice to have a source on your doorstep. Do you have dulse seaweed on your beaches I wonder? Good stuff if you can find it.
I've not heard of dulse seaweed, I'll have to remember to look that up , thanks for the tip.
 
Samphire is fantastic.

So are many seaweeds

And Burdock root. (Thinkof a parsnip but stronger) The Japanese domesticated it, called Gobo.

A Victorian gardner once experimented with wild parsnip, -simply selected for the fattest roots.

Allegedly they got it up to domestic size in ten generations (ie years)
 
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