There is a World Carrot Museum.  It’s only virtual, which leaves me feeling a bit had, but at least there’s a place where you can find the sentence: “Welcome world wide web traveler to the World Carrot Museum, dedicated to telling the fascinating story of the wonderful Carrot.”  A clause in the book The Edible History of Humanity sent me searching, but more on that in a minute.

Our hero carrot’s history is “surrounded by doubt and enigma.”  As far as we know, cultivation started around 3,000 B.C. in Afghanistan.  Imperial Rome grew them for medicinal means and as ingredients for aphrodisiacs.  After the fall of Rome, Europe went carrot-less for ten centuries until the Arabs reintroduced them.  The original carrots (and I’m talking about the roots that we eat here) were purple, white, or yellow.  China developed a foreshadowing red carrot around 1700.  Continue reading →