We’ll dive into the great history of carrots and reveal their transformation from wild plants to the tasty, colorful veggies we enjoy today. We’ll also answer the burning question: Are carrots man made?
First off, wild carrots have a distinct appearance and taste. They’re usually thin, white, or pale yellow and have a more fibrous texture. Instead of the sweetness, we’re familiar with, wild carrots have a noticeably bitter flavor.
Domestication is all about humans selecting plants with desirable traits and cultivating them to produce more of those qualities. For example, with carrots, early farmers were likely drawn to plants with less bitterness and a more tender texture.
Orange carrots, as it turns out, are a relatively recent development. They emerged around the 16th and 17th centuries in the Netherlands, where selective breeding led to the creation of these eye-catching veggies.
Both human intervention and natural processes have shaped the carrots we know today, and understanding the delicate balance between these forces is essential.