Where Carrots Originally White?

White and orange-coloured carrots were first described in Western Europe in the early 1600s (Banga 1963). Concomitantly, the Asiatic carrot was developed from the Afghan type and a red type appeared in China and India around the 1700s (Laufer 1919; Shinohara 1984).

Did carrots used to be white?

CARROTS used to be white. They were grown for their leaves and seeds, much as their distant relatives, parsley and coriander, still are. The chemical compounds that give carrots their vivid colour, carotenoids, are usually used by plants that grow above ground to assist in the process of photosynthesis.

Where do white carrots come from?

Generations of people in the West have grown up believing that carrots have always been orange. But long before the Orange carrot became established in the 15th century, the white carrot (Daucus carota ssp. sativus) grew in Europe, often fed to cattle but also consumed by humans.