Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Scarlette Nantes Carrots

Here are some Scarlette Nantes carrots I illustrated in late 2009 or early 2010 I think:


I like the repeated carrot image in all sorts of direction. It sort of looks chaotic and orderly at the same time. These carrots are kind of interesting because they are more cylindrically shaped rather than the regular tapered shape of a carrot.
Wikipedia tells me that the carrot's wild ancestors probably came from Iran and Afganistan, which is still the center of diversity for the wild carrot. Apparently, carrots were not originally grown for their tap roots, but for their aromatic leaves and seeds just as some of their relatives still are like parsley, fennel, dill and cumin.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

That is fascinating carrot info! I wonder which carrots are best for juicing and which will grow best in Tuscany. The juicing carrots would have to be large. What kinds do you think grown large?

Jessie said...

You are funny. :) SESE has a variety called danvers that we would grow at Twin Oaks that got really big so long as the babies didn't get killed off by cut worms and so long as we thinned them out enough as they got bigger. I am not sure what the climate is like in Tuscany. That would be neat if it were similar to Virginia. hmmm, what zone is it?