Crunchy, Colorful Carrots

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THE BABY CARROT BOOM

“Baby-cut” carrots were invented 20 years ago as a way to use broken carrot pieces. Their introduction helped double carrot consumption during the 1990s, and baby-cut carrots are so popular that breeders have developed varieties designed to be sculpted into three perfect pieces. Baby-cut carrots taste sweet in part because they are made from mature carrots.

True baby carrots — or immature carrots — have a delicate texture, but because carrot flavor reaches its peak just as the roots reach full size, immature carrots often taste bland or slightly bitter. To grow the best-tasting baby carrots in your garden, stick with the miniature varieties or try varieties that develop good flavor while they are still small, such as the hybrid ‘Little Finger.’

SAVING CARROT SEEDS

“Carrots are really easy to save seeds from,” says Betsy Bruneau, co-manager at Bountiful Gardens in Willits, Calif. Carrots are biennials, which means they flower and produce seed in their second year. “In mild winter areas you can leave carrots in the ground over the winter and they will flower the following spring,” Bruneau says. “In other areas, dig the carrots up before the first hard freeze and keep them in the refrigerator until early spring. Then replant them; they will go to seed in the summer. If you buy some nonhybrid carrots at the farmer’s market that you really like, you can stick them in the ground and save seeds from them, too.”

Bruneau cautions against allowing Queen Anne’s lace (wild carrot) to bloom within a half mile of carrots being grown for seed, because bees and other flying insects will eagerly spread pollen between the cultivated and wild forms, rendering the carrot seeds worthless. Different cultivated carrot varieties also cross-pollinate. Plan to save the seeds borne by the first big umbel — the stalk and cluster of flowers in the shape of an umbrella — that appears on each plant, because the primary umbel will produce bigger seeds than flower clusters that appear later. Allow the seed-bearing umbel to ripen on the plant until the outermost seeds turn brown, then cut it off close to the ground and hang it upside down in a dry, well-ventilated room for two weeks. Collect the ripe seeds by crushing the dried umbel inside a paper bag. Discard the smallest seeds and save the biggest ones for replanting. Meanwhile, any flowers not collected for seed will serve as nectar sources for beneficial insects, or you can enjoy them as cut flowers indoors.

EAT FRESH CARROTS ALL YEAR

By choosing the right varieties and making spring and summer sowings, you can eat fresh carrots year-round. You’ll be able to harvest carrots as you need them, let some overwinter in the ground and always have some in the refrigerator that are washed and ready to eat.

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