Is it just me when I look at a carrot and see Kevin?

As much as I love this tapering orange-coloured root character introduced by Aldi in 2016 with his simple striking features and likeability and often think of him as I stand peeling all his long lost relatives never to be reunited, sometimes I wish the world wouldn’t name vegetables creating this unnecessary emotional attachment!

This carrot has not only got a name and a profile with an age (24 in carrot years) and is described as an adventurous carrot top who looks better in the dark, is a film buff like exciting train rides and promises to be an amazing date specifying no rabbits, he also now has gained a wife called Katie and has three children all named after carrots; Jasper, Chantony and Baby.

Every crunch is heart breaking but not surprising as carrots are very interesting vegetables and with more than 100 species of carrots, there is so much to know….

No more what’s up doc, as there are some very healthy aspects the carrot has beneath its skin and you carrot help, but love this deep rooted tasty veg!

• The cultivated carrot is the second most popular vegetable in the world after the potato.
• The word carrot is first recorded in English in a 1538 book of herbs.
• Grown from seed taking up to four months to mature, most mature within 70 to 80 days under the right conditions.
• There is a variety of carrot for every letter of the alphabet
• Carrots are a domesticated form of the wild carrot, Daucus carota, native to Europe and southwestern Asia.
• There are two distinct categories of carrot in the modern world, the cultivated Carrot (domesticated) and the Wild Carrot.
• The part of the carrot that we eat is called the taproot.
• They are crunchy, tasty and highly nutritious and a particularly good source of beta-carotene, fibre, vitamin K, potassium and antioxidants.
• Containing very little fat and protein and the water content can vary from around 86-95%, and the edible portion consists of around 10% carbohydrates
• Carrots will not improve your visual acuity if you have less than perfect vision. I.e. a diet of carrots will not give a blind person 20/20 vision. But the vitamins found in the vegetable can help promote overall eye health. Carrots contain beta-carotene, a substance that the body converts to vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health.
• The heaviest carrot weighs 10.17 kg (22.44 lb) and was grown by Christopher Qualley of Otsego, Minnesota, USA, as verified on 9 September 2017.
• The longest carrot measures 6.245 m (20 ft 5.86 in) and was grown by Joe Atherton (UK), as verified at the UK National Giant Vegetables Championship, in Malvern, UK, on 23 September 2016.
• Since their arrival to ancient Greece and Rome to their expansion in medieval Europe, carrots were often used for their medicinal properties. Romans famously though that carrots are aphrodisiacs.
• If you eat too many carrots, you will turn orange. This is not one of those urban legends or lies you were told, not full-on Oompa Loompa or as though you have ben tangoed but definitely an orange shade of Towie!
• Carrot is one of the sugariest vegetables in the world and can be eaten raw, boiled, roasted, or made into juice.
• Wild rabbits do not seek out carrots as part of their daily diet, although they can eat them. As they contain a lot more sugar than we realise, this makes them not the healthiest option for most rabbits. They can lead to tooth decay, weight gain, and digestion issues if consumed too often.
• A simple rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile for a 160-pound person. So that is about 3 carrots a mile.
• We think of carrots as orange, but they can also be white, yellow, red, and purple. Carrots were originally white or purple. Then a yellow carrot appeared through mutation and the familiar orange carrot was bred from it.
• Purple carrots contain purple pigments called anthocyanins, which act as antioxidants that protect the body.
• Carrots are far more nutritious when they are cooked and eaten rather than being eaten raw? This is exactly opposite of every known vegetable in world. The reason for this is the cell walls of carrots are very tough and it is very difficult to digest the cell walls. When cooked, these cell walls break and release the nutrients, making cooked carrot far more nutritious.
• Carrot seeds are so small that 2,000 seeds can accommodate in a simple teaspoon.
• Ninjin is the Japanese term for carrots. ‘Honey Underground’ is what the Celts used to call them. Ancient Greeks used to call them Karoto and Philtron.  The Dutch call them Wortels and the Welsh call them Morons.
• Reindeers do not chew carrots. They swallow them whole!
• You can alsofermentcarrots, for a similar effect to kimchi or sauerkraut.
• Carrot tops were once used as a fashion statement. They were carried in the hair, especially in 17th century England. Today we prefer to eat them!
• Carrots clean your teeth and mouth. They scrape off plaque and food particles just like toothbrushes or toothpaste. Carrots stimulate gums and trigger a lot of saliva, which, being alkaline, balances out the acid-forming, cavity-forming bacteria. The minerals in carrots prevent tooth damage.
• Among all vegetables, carrots have the largest content of vitamin A (beta carotene).
• Carrots have many medicinal properties – they can repair damaged cells, maintain health of the skin, serve as good antiseptic for skin wounds very effectively clean your mouth from bacteria, regulate alkaline ratio of your body, treat worms in children, improve breast milk in women, restore regular function of liver, regulate blood pressure, and much more.
• The high level of beta-carotene in carrots acts as an antioxidant to cell damage done to the body through regular metabolism. It helps slows down the ageing of cells.

Ingredients

6 carrots

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 glass water

Serves 2

For this carrot smoothie recipe, just throw all the ingredients into a blender then blend until smooth and there you go!  You just carrot believe how quick it is!

Nourishing & refreshing smoothies to be enjoyed & so healthy!

Bye Kevin - it was nice to know you!