Baby carrot

In North America, Baby Carrots are vegetableseither miniature carrots harvested before their roots develop or adult carrots chopped into smaller pieces and peeled (known as baby-cut carrots). Taking fully grown carrots and cutting them to make them smaller was the idea of California farmer Mike Yurosek.

Yurosek was unhappy at having to discard as much as 800 tons of carrots a day because of slight rotting or imperfections, and looked for a way to reclaim what would otherwise be a waste product. He was able to acquire an industrial green bean cutter, which cut his carrots into two lengths, and by placing these lengths into an industrial potato peeler, he created the original baby carrot, branded "Bunny-Luv." In 2006, nearly three-quarters of the fresh baby carrots produced in the United States came from Bakersfield, California. [http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-08-11-baby-carrot_x.htm] Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms are the world's two largest growers, processors, and shippers of baby carrots. [http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-08-11-baby-carrot_x.htm] The Green Giant company, which resells carrots from Bolthouse Farms, markets their product as "baby cut carrots."

Another use of the term is a carrot grown to the "baby stage", which is to say long before the root reaches its mature size. These immature roots are preferred by some people out of the belief that they are superior either in texture, nutrition or taste. They are also sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop thinning, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop. Certain cultivars of carrots have been bred to be used at the "baby" stage. One such cultivar is [http://www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds/pages/moreinfo.asp?pe=DBFBFGBIQ_+carrot+baby+%91amsterdam+forcing%92&cid=211 'Amsterdam Forcing'] . This process was developed at Beechnut Farms, bought by Zellwin Farms. These farms originally developed food for WWII, but wanted to sell food for civilians. A team of two led the research. From an interview, they were originally to be called "carettes".

Baby carrots are not as nutritious as full whole carrots, because a lot of the goodness in carrots is contained in the skin and just below it. This is removed in the baby carrot making process.

After harvesting, the carrots are washed in chlorinated water, just like our drinking water, and cleaned to remove dirt and mud. Some finished baby carrots are washed, or dipped, by a further chlorine solution to prevent white blushing once in the store.

According to the Dole Web site, baby carrots are sweeter and more tender than full-grown carrots. They are small because they are either grown closer together or harvested earlier than big carrots. [ [http://www.dole.eu/Products/PackagedSalads/BabyCarrots/tabid/217/Default.aspx] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-08-11-baby-carrot_x.htm USA Today - Digging the baby carrot]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3072775/ MSNBC - Convenient carrot charms consumers]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050719/ai_n14881903 Chicago Sun Times - Big little news: Petite carrots tinier than 'baby' style]
* [http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/vgs/2007/03Mar/VGS31901/VGS31901.pdf USDA - Factors Affecting Carrot Consumption in the United States]
* [http://www.dole.eu/Products/PackagedSalads/BabyCarrots/tabid/217/Default.aspx Dole - About Baby Carrots]