I was talking to a friend earlier and was startled to find out that she thought the "baby carrots" in the market were really baby carrots. So I figured I should post about them for all of those who haven't heard the news.In 2006, most baby carrots come from Bakersfield, California, and make up a third of sales of fresh carrots in the United States. These baby carrots are really full grown carrots that have been cut into 2" pieces and smoothed and shaped to look like baby carrots, the majority of which would have been thrown away as culls and few to cattle or just destroyed. In the late 1980's Mike Yurosek a farmer in California got tired of seeing 400 tons of carrots a day being discarded and came up with a way to shape and form them into what look like baby carrots. The rest is an American success story with raw baby carrots making up 1/3 of the sales of fresh raw carrots and are one of the top vegetables consumed in the US.
This isn't a bad thing because due to the popularity of carrots, new breeds were developed that are sweeter, less bitter and woody, crisp, and with more vitamins and beta-carotene. It used to be that you had to peel carrots so they wouldn't be too bitter to eat. Now looking back I can't remember when I did more than wash carrots before using. Peeling for me is a thing of the distant past.
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