Recently, purple carrots have appeared in many European stores and are in great demand among customers.
However, this achievement of the breeders matches the folk wisdom that all new is well forgotten old. You have a question about why we call this newfangled carrot a well-forgotten old one? After reading this article, you will not only get the answer to this question, but also learn a lot of interesting things about such an unusual purple carrot.
How did a man meet carrots
There is no exact and reliable information about how people got acquainted with this root crop, however there is a rather interesting version of such a meeting. More than 4000 years ago, a man noticed that a horse happily chews some kind of purple plant . Being interested, he took the carrots from the animal, and he liked it.
Remembering what the leaves of a tasty root look like, a man set off in search of him. Taking into account all subsequent events, the wild carrot purple came to taste and it was cultivated.
A small digression into history
Not so long ago, archaeologists discovered on the walls of an ancient Egyptian temple a fresco of 4000 years old, which depicts light purple carrots.
It turns out that the very first carrot was originally purple, and until the XVII century, root crops painted in red, white and yellow were rare. White and pink carrots grew in the gardens of the Roman Empire, and the inhabitants of ancient Greece did not use it for food, but used almost all diseases as a natural remedy. The inhabitants of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan already in the X century grew
this root crop of dark purple color. In the 13th century
, white, raspberry, and yellow
carrots were imported into the states of southern Europe. In addition, one could meet this vegetable in red, green and black colors.
The usual golden-orange carrot for us appeared relatively recently, in the 16th century. The Dutch patriotic breeders, who supported William of Orange in the struggle against the Spanish authorities over the Netherlands, bred a variety with an unusual color for that time, but so familiar and loved by us today.
This vegetable came to Russia in the 16th century and for a long time was used exclusively for medicinal purposes.
And what is in it
Numerous studies have found that purple carrots are rich in vitamins of groups B, A, C, E, as well as various micro and macro elements necessary for our body. In addition, a root crop of such
an unusual color contains several times more beta-carotene than a standard orange carrot. Vitamins E and C, together with selenium, effectively fight the foci of inflammatory processes.
But most importantly, the difference between purple carrots and their orange "cousin" is the presence and high concentration of anthocyanins, plant pigments, which not only paint vegetables and fruits in black, blue or purple, but also have a lot of useful properties for us.
What is its use
Due to the presence of "purple" pigments - anthocyanins - this purple vegetable exhibits such beneficial properties:
- Anti-cancer effect. A substance such as carotenoid lutein contained in purple carrots contributes to the fact that anthocyanins significantly slow down the growth of cancer cells.
- Anti-inflammatory effect.
- Helps strengthen immunity.
- It is an excellent means of preventing diseases of the cardiovascular system.
- It helps well with diseases of the vascular system, especially with varicose vein disease and venous insufficiency.
- It improves vision and serves as an excellent prophylactic against the development of retinopathy in patients with diabetes mellitus.
- Normalizes and stabilizes the level of cholesterol in the blood.
- It lowers high blood pressure.
- Strengthens the kidneys.
- Calcium, contained in purple carrots along with other beneficial substances, is easily absorbed by the body and helps to maintain good shape of the skin, nails and hair.
- Regular use is a good way to combat various sexual dysfunctions in both men and women.
How to grow it
Many gardeners, having learned about the benefits of this root crop, are interested in whether it is possible to get the seeds of purple carrots somewhere. As a rule, the seeds of such plants, which are still not very familiar to us, are sold by large producers in specialized stores or garden centers. You can ask in an ordinary store, it is only important to remember that the purple carrots are different, and it is better to know their names. Today on the Russian seed market there are not many seeds of varietal purple carrots. It:
- Dragon painted in bright purple with an orange middle and a sweet taste.
- Purple Elixir, with skin and flesh colored in purple-violet, and a contrasting honey-orange core.
- Cosmic Purple, outwardly purple and completely yellow-orange inside.