The purple… carrots!

Well, today we’re gonna take a little stroll from our usual purple flowers discussions, to talk about the carrots. Why? Well, because you should know that carrots were initially purple. That’s right.

Before the 17th century, virtually all the cultivated carrots were purple, and the modern, orange carrot we see today wasn’t cultivated until Dutch growers in the late 16th century decided they want to make it of that colour, to signify their dominance (orange was their colour). In order to do this, they took mutant strains of the purple carrot, including yellow and white carrots and gradually developed them into the sweet, plump, orange variety we have today. Before that, even white carrots were more common than orange ones.

However, some people think that the mutation wasn’t made in an attempt to bring honor and glory to the House of Orange and honor Dutch independence; they believe the Dutch wanted to make it tastier and more resilient, and the colour came out as a side effect. So just so you know, if you see a purple carrot, it’s not a freak or something – it’s just keeping it real.