The Original Carrot grown in 2000 BC was Purple.

Posted by Mike Kremer on May 16, 2002 at 19:25
(62.188.48.74)

Countless generations have grown up believing that Carrots were always orange.
Not any more, from this summer the third largest Supermarket chain in the UK 'Sainsbury's' will be selling the original carrot as it was grown in Afghanistan over 2000 years ago, when its original colour was purple.
Egyptian temple drawings showed purple carrots,
and back in Roman times the carrot was always purple, and sometimes white.
The original purple carrot was imported into Europe during Roman times, and with the fall of the Roman Empire again in the 14th and 15th century.
It was the Dutch farmers in the 16th century who
developed its present orange colour, after crossing it with a yellow variety found in North Africa.
While orange carrots get their colour from carotene some of which the body turns into vitamin A essential for healthy skin, and dim light vision.
The original purple variety, do all that, plus give us extra protection from certain forms of cancer and heart disease. The purple pigment is an anthocyanine which acts as an anti-oxidant.

The first crop of purple carrots are now being grown on fields in East Anglia UK. To be sold
towards the end of this summer.
This is following on with the publics demand for original organic foods, such as the bottles of green tomatoe ketchup on the shelves, and the orange cucumbers now being sold in the UK.

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