WERE CARROTS ALWAYS - ORANGE IN COLOR?

Study Reveals Genetic Origins of Carrots' Orange Color
PUBLISHED:MAY 10, 2016

In sequencing the genome of the lowly carrot, researchers have revealed several of the vegetable's secrets -- including the genetic origins of its orange color.
Researchers credit a gene called DCAR_032551 with enabling the carrot's accumulation of carotenoids, which is responsible for the carrots rich vitamin content as well as its bright yellow and orange colors.
"The accumulation of orange pigments is an accumulation that normally wouldn't happen," Phil Simon, a horticulture professor and geneticist at the University of Wisconsin, said in a news release. "Now, we know what the genes are and what they do."
"The carrot has a good reputation as a crop and we know it's a significant source of nutrition -- vitamin A, in particular," Simon added. "Now, we have the chance to dig deeper and it's a nice addition to the toolbox for improving the crop."
Researchers sequenced the entire genome of the carrot variety known as the Nantes carrot. They also compared the genes of 37 domestic varieties to those of wild carrots, which are white.
The results confirmed that the first cultivated carrots, which were purple and yellow, were grown in Central Asia, 1,100 years ago. Orange carrots appeared later, in the 16th century, in Europe.
The latest research doesn't explain the reasoning for the carrot's original colors, but it does show there's no correlation between color and flavor. Regardless of why, the carrot's pigmentation helped seal its future as a vitamin powerhouse.
As domesticators continued to select the most colorful carrots for cultivation, they encouraged the accumulation of vitamins A and B.
Researchers suggest early carrot farmers may have simply selected for color to differentiate between the crops they intended to grow and patches of wild carrots.
"They could keep their crops 'clean' from a patch of wild carrots growing 50 meters away by choosing only the purple or yellow ones," explained Simon.
The carrot has continued to enjoy significant genomic changes over the last several decades. Carrot breeding has resulted in increasingly high concentrations of carotene. Today's bright orange carrots have 50 percent more carotene than they did in 1970.
Researchers published their carrot study this week in the journal Nature Genetics.
http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/How-Carrots-Got-Their-Orange-Color/story.xhtml?story_id=023002A77N82#

eddie wrote:I don't know why I knew this, (Trivia crap sometimes sticks in your head even when important stuff doesn't), but I knew Asian carrots were purple or yellow.  

Maybe it was a question on who wants to be a millionaire or something.

On the subject of carrots, they are one vegetable that I really don't like, but eat them daily.

eddie wrote:Love heritage tomatoes and yes I have heard of white carrots too!
I prefer purple broccoli too but couldn't say why lol

4EVER2 wrote:

eddie wrote:Love heritage tomatoes and yes I have heard of white carrots too!
I prefer purple broccoli too but couldn't say why lol

Do they retain that purple color when you cook them or do they bleed out like beets will if not prepared correctly --- I love adding new color groups to my chef salads and I really enjoy broccoli flavors added to my macaroni chilled salads. 

I've enjoyed the lemon yellow tomato variety; there less acidic and don't make my mouth break out in sores but I do love those black Cherokee's --- lovely beefy type for slicing - just eating with salt & pepper.

eddie wrote:

4EVER2 wrote:

Do they retain that purple color when you cook them or do they bleed out like beets will if not prepared correctly --- I love adding new color groups to my chef salads and I really enjoy broccoli flavors added to my macaroni chilled salads. 

I've enjoyed the lemon yellow tomato variety; there less acidic and don't make my mouth break out in sores but I do love those black Cherokee's --- lovely beefy type for slicing - just eating with salt & pepper.

Tomatoes with salt and pepper  are divine!

Yes, if you even slightly over cook the purple broccoli (I hate overlooked veg) they do lose their colour. But if you blanch them and add to salad - lovely!

4EVER2 wrote:Absolutely nothing worse and unpalatable then a limp overly processed veggie...that's why I eat so many of mine in a fresh/raw salad form; I like that crunch and real fresh flavor.

I've been planting a variety of tomato that is not only pretty but it's lower in acid as well; Mr Stripey

    
but I can't plant these around any other variety or they cross pollinate
and will loose their stripe.  Learned that the hard way

eddie wrote:Those stripey tomatoes look wonderful! Not kidding.

Our veg is boring over here. My palate is for Mediterranean flavours....aubergines, courgettes (zucchini) and big beefy tomatoes

I'm going to make a veggie lasagne tomorrow

4EVER2 wrote:I've not planted any in my garden 'YET' and several of my neighbors keep doing theirs, like this past weekend...then we have these monsoon rains - and another couple of cold fronts coming through and the brown rust will start growing up their plants and they'll lose more than ½ of their work.  I wait until later in May and put mine in into my raised beds.

But I've been going through my seed catalogs like a kid at Christmas with the toy book...can't wait.

Last year I was begging for some zucchini to shred for my freezer but everyone had put theirs out early and it went into blossom rot due to the overly wet month of May.  Normally I'd be finding sacks of them on my porch!

Cass wrote:

eddie wrote:Those stripey tomatoes look wonderful! Not kidding.

Our veg is boring over here. My palate is for Mediterranean flavours....aubergines, courgettes (zucchini) and big beefy tomatoes

I'm going to make a veggie lasagne tomorrow

Eds, do you make zucchini chips? they are incredibly moreish. I always laugh at the remark that they can be stored in a container in the fridge. Yeah right. They are gone in a second!

eddie wrote:

Cass wrote:

Eds, do you make zucchini chips? they are incredibly moreish. I always laugh at the remark that they can be stored in a container in the fridge. Yeah right. They are gone in a second!

Yes I do!  Covered  with smoked paprika
I like them on my veggie pasta dish as a topping. Very moreish!!

Recipe by [url=http://www.bettycrocker.com/menus-holidays-parties/Team-Betty/Past Contributors/CheriLiefeld]Cheri Liefeld[/url] November 5, 2012

Ingredients
1  bunch kale, cleaned, torn into small pieces 
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese   
1 teaspoon olive oil    
1  teaspoon salt    
1/2  teaspoon pepper    
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, if desired  

Directions

• 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper; spray paper with cooking spray.
  
• 2 In large bowl, toss ingredients until kale is evenly coated. Place on cookie sheet in single layer.
  
• 3 Bake 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking, until chips are crisp. Store in airtight container.
  

4EVER2 wrote:If you ladies haven't tried 'KALE'...you've got to!  Kale is the super greens and it makes the BEST chips to snack on - ADDICTIVE but so good for you too.


Rich in iron, calcium and vitamins A, C and K, kale is an excellent addition to the dinner table. For a delicious serving option, try our baked parmesan kale chips.
 

Recipe by [url=http://www.bettycrocker.com/menus-holidays-parties/Team-Betty/Past Contributors/CheriLiefeld]Cheri Liefeld[/url] November 5, 2012

Ingredients
1  bunch kale, cleaned, torn into small pieces 
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese   
1 teaspoon olive oil    
1  teaspoon salt    
1/2  teaspoon pepper    
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, if desired  

Directions

• 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper; spray paper with cooking spray.
  
• 2 In large bowl, toss ingredients until kale is evenly coated. Place on cookie sheet in single layer.
  
• 3 Bake 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking, until chips are crisp. Store in airtight container.
  

eddie wrote:

Make me hungry and then go! Pfffffff

nicko wrote:In this country the Wood Pigeon love it!

When some people are sick they bring up bits of carrots although they've never eaten them!
The Aussies call it a Technicolour Yawn.

eddie wrote:

4EVER2 wrote:

Do they retain that purple color when you cook them or do they bleed out like beets will if not prepared correctly --- I love adding new color groups to my chef salads and I really enjoy broccoli flavors added to my macaroni chilled salads. 

I've enjoyed the lemon yellow tomato variety; there less acidic and don't make my mouth break out in sores but I do love those black Cherokee's --- lovely beefy type for slicing - just eating with salt & pepper.

Tomatoes with salt and pepper  are divine!

Yes, if you even slightly over cook the purple broccoli (I hate overlooked veg) they do lose their colour. But if you blanch them and add to salad - lovely!

eddie wrote:Gotta try the kale chips.

I also like kale fried with big chunks of garlic, red onion, mushrooms, red peppers and olives

You can add bacon instead of olives for meat-eaters.

Miffs2 wrote:

eddie wrote:Gotta try the kale chips.

I also like kale fried with big chunks of garlic, red onion, mushrooms, red peppers and olives

You can add bacon instead of olives for meat-eaters.

I might try that. At the moment all I do with Kale is give it to the Guinea pigs. I love butternut squash chips and at the moment I love cauliflower rice and courgette spaghetti. Yum yum

Cass wrote:
There is a lot of heritage vegetables being brought back. I just used some orange cauliflower and purple fingerling potatoes at the weekend and will stew some heritage tomatoes (orange, yellow, purple, red) for dinner tonight. Haven't seen any black tomatoes for a while now.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Cass wrote:
There is a lot of heritage vegetables being brought back. I just used some orange cauliflower and purple fingerling potatoes at the weekend and will stew some heritage tomatoes (orange, yellow, purple, red) for dinner tonight. Haven't seen any black tomatoes for a while now.

AND there are "Heritage vegetable and fruit" growers associations out there...

DOWN here, they have been including displays in Agricultural shows over the last few decades (I first saw a multi-coloured corn/zea maize display back in the early 1980s..).

TO SEE the range of what's available I could suggest that people might like to do a Google images search with the keywords  heritage  vegetables and fruit..

Miffs2 wrote:

eddie wrote:Gotta try the kale chips.

I also like kale fried with big chunks of garlic, red onion, mushrooms, red peppers and olives

You can add bacon instead of olives for meat-eaters.

I might try that. At the moment all I do with Kale is give it to the Guinea pigs. I love butternut squash chips and at the moment I love cauliflower rice and courgette spaghetti. Yum yum