Have you heard of a purple carrot?

Me neither. I also didn’t know that carrots come in lots of colors including white, yellow, red and purple.

I happened along this blog, which cited the Carrot Museum Website in the UK. I was surprised to learn that some think the reason carrots are predominately orange today is thanks to the Dutch, as an attempt to honor William of Orange who led the struggle for Dutch independence. In reality, I think this is another example of how mass production has led to the homogenization of our food.

I thought that I’d have to wait till next summer to scour the famer’s markets and talk to my CSA provider about finding these varieties, but to my surprise (and the lady next to me in the produce section when I squealed) today in the produce section of my local Town and Country were purple, yellow and white carrots!

They are approximately the same price as “regular” organic carrots and taste like them too! But they’ll add a lovely color to the Rabbit à la Moutard I am making tomorrow night.