Cream coloured carrots make a comeback

Ask anyone what colour a carrot is and the chances are they’ll tell you it is orange. Recently however the humble carrot in the UK has had a makeover. Now cream coloured carrots have made a comeback. They are crisp and crunchy in texture and sweeter in taste than their orange cousin. The new carrot is grown in Scotland in the Moray Firth area by local farmer Steven Jack. The new variety called Crème de Lite has started to be sold by British department store Marks & Spencer. The organically grown root vegetable went on sale in mid October. The new cream coloured carrot might easily be mistaken for other similar coloured and shaped vegetables like parsnips or swedes. Carrots were originally white, cream and purple. The first carrots were cultivated in Afghanistan. They were then brought to the Mediterranean area more than 2,000 years ago; becoming popular with the Greeks and Romans. Carrots only became orange through cross-breeding 400 years ago. The orange variety was developed by Dutch growers aiming to produce a less bitter version. It was adopted by the royal family in Holland, where orange is the national colour.

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