The Baby Carrot Mystery...!

While this really isn't a mystery, it does contain some information you might find interesting. This article was one I took from Listverse.

Baby Carrots Are Man-made

Baby carrots are the Disney characters of the carrot world. These veggies are small, rounded, and peeled. They also have that stunning orange color. Unlike larger carrots, baby carrots are considered ready to eat. Most baby carrot lovers do not know that baby carrots are just regular carrots trimmed into small sizes.

The first baby carrot was made in the 1980s when Mike Yurosek trimmed some of his broken carrots into smaller sizes. At the time, carrot farmers disposed of 70 percent of their carrots because they were broken or had unappealing shapes. Not willing to lose more revenue, Yurosek used a potato peeler to trim the deformed carrots for sale. They were a success.

Nowadays, farmers deliberately plant carrots for baby carrots. They harvest the vegetables before they are fully matured and trim them into smaller sizes. They will usually wash the carrots with chlorine before rinsing them in water and packaging them for sale. Farms say the chlorine is necessary to kill bacteria like E. coli. However, people have protested against the use of chlorine in food.

All I can say about this article is that I love the size and taste of these carrots. Just right for using in stews and soups, even though they are misleading about the source.

Coffee in the kitchen again. I made cookies last night, though.