Historical story

Purple Carrots in Antiquity

Carrot flower in a 19th century print. Carrots were once purple

Always used to seeing them in a beautiful sunny orange color, it may seem strange to us, but carrots in ancient times were purple.

This is confirmed by various Egyptian, Greek and Roman historical sources populations in which this precious vegetable was widely used not only in the kitchen, but also in the medical and pharmaceutical fields.

Furthermore, evidence subsequent to those cited above also describes yellow and white carrots , but never orange.

How then did the current appearance of the carrot come about?

The theater of the epochal transformation was Holland , where between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the growers, experimenting daring crossings and risky selections, were able to definitively change the color and flavor of the carrot, which became even sweeter.

Orange was not chosen by chance, but to honor that dynasty of the Orange who led Holland in the war against the Spaniards.