Carrot

The carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) is a root vegetable, usually orange or white, or pink in color, with a crunchy texture when fresh. The suitable for eating part of a carrot is a taproot. It is a cultivated form of the wild carrot Daucus carota, national to Europe and southwestern Asia. It has been bred for its very much inflamed and more palatable, less woody-textured edible taproot, but is still the similar species.

It is a biennial plant which grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer, while building up the fat taproot, which stores big amounts of sugars for the plant to flower in the second year. The peak stem grows to about 1 m tall, with an umbel of white flowers.

Carrots can be eaten raw, whole, chopped, grate, or added to salads for color or texture. They are also often chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups and stews, as well as fine baby foods and choose pet foods. A well recognized dish is carrots julienne. Grated carrots are used in carrot cakes, as healthy as carrot puddings, an old English dish thought to have originated in the early 1800s.